WASHINGTON — Computer networking company Netgear has sued Huawei in federal court in California, claiming the Chinese tech giant violated U.S. antitrust law by refusing to license its patents on reasonable terms.
The complaint, filed Jan. 30, also accused Huawei of fraud, racketeering and other crimes for allegedly denying patent licenses for technology that Netgear’s routers need to comply with international Wi-Fi networking standards .
Netgear, based in San Jose, California, said Huawei abuses patent infringement lawsuits to increase its licensing rates, forcing other companies to “engage in costly litigation and find themselves priced out of the market or to pay Huawei’s exorbitant demands.
The complaint follows infringement lawsuits filed by Huawei against Netgear in Germany and China.
Huawei representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on January 31. A lawyer for Netgear declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Standards essential patents cover inventions needed to comply with international technical standards such as Bluetooth and 5G.
Standards bodies require patent owners to license patents on fair and reasonable terms.
Huawei first accused Netgear of violating its patents in a 2020 letter, according to the lawsuit.
Netgear told the court that Huawei filed infringement suits against the company and demanded “significant” licensing fees before providing important background information or identifying specific relevant patents.
“Huawei’s ‘take it or leave it’ approach sought to obtain supra-competitive pricing from Netgear under the growing threat of serial lawsuits,” the complaint states.
Netgear said Huawei has used the same strategy against other companies, including Verizon, L3Harris and T-Mobile.
The lawsuit accused Huawei of monopolizing standards-critical technology and engaging in racketeering using a “global plan” to “dominate global markets by illegally taxing efficient standards” at anti-competitive rates.
Huawei announced in 2023 that it would earn US$560 million (S$670 million) from patent royalties in 2022. REUTERS
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