Huawei, Verizon agree to settle patent lawsuits

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and US group Verizon Communications have agreed to settle a pair of lawsuits alleging patent infringement, the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker told Reuters.

The trial in one of the two lawsuits opened last week in Texas. Huawei and Verizon filed joint motions to dismiss both cases and Verizon's counterclaims late Sunday in two US courts.

In February 2020, Huawei sued Verizon alleging the company used a dozen Huawei patents without authorization in areas such as computer networking, download security, and video communications, seeking an unspecified amount of compensation and royalty payments.

Huawei said in a statement it was "pleased that Verizon and Huawei reached an agreement that ends the companies’ patent litigation. The terms of the agreement are confidential."

The company noted it "holds more than 100,000 active patents worldwide, including about 10,000 US patents."

Verizon did not immediately comment Monday but last year called the lawsuits "nothing more than a PR stunt" and "a sneak attack on our company and the entire tech ecosystem" and filed counterclaims against Huawei, claiming the Chinese company violated Verizon patents.

Huawei said in 2020 it was "simply asking that Verizon respect Huawei's investment in research and development by either paying for the use of our patents, or refraining from using them."

Huawei has been a flashpoint in the US-China relationship for several years. The United States placed the company on an economic blacklist in 2019 over what it said were national security concerns.

In June 2019, Reuters reported that Huawei told Verizon it should pay licensing fees for use of more than 230 Huawei patents and was seeking more than $1 billion.