Huawei settles with Rockstar Consortium over patent infringement lawsuits

In the world of intellectual property, the utility patent holds one of the highest powers. Some may use their patents for good, which creates products and ideas, while others choose to make it the center of their enterprise — a practice commonly known as patent trolling.

Rockstar Consortium, an which is a collaboration among many technology companies like BlackBerry, Ericsson, Apple, Sony and Microsoft, was able to increase its portfolio after purchasing over 6,000 patents from Nortel in 2011, according to CNET. Technologies like optical, voice, Internet, wireless, wireless 4G and data networking were among the brunt of the patents, but here's the catch: a majority of them are operated on Android devices.

Google was among the companies that were bidding for Nortel's patent portfolio, bidding $4.4 billion, but Rockstar was able to edge its way out with $4.5 billion.

Fast forward two years and the Rockstar companies were out to get what they felt was lawfully entitled to them, so they filed lawsuits against Google, Huawei and Samsung to pay a licensing fee for using their patents. Since receiving the lawsuit, Google issued a counter claim  against Rockstar, while Huawei agreed to pay a settlement, Wired reported.

It is unclear how much Huawei agreed to pay out for the hardware it produces that Rockstar holds the patents to, but this situation continues to challenge lawmakers who are looking for more patent reform.

Business owners who are looking to protect their assets from potential competitors will need legal advice and counsel. Many of these proceedings require a lot of time, paperwork and knowledge —consider reaching out to a Phoenix business attorney.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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