Huawei vs MediaTek: What’s the matter of dispute?

Huawei and MediaTek have locked horns over an alleged patent dispute. The Chinese tech giant has sued the chipmaker for patent infringement. But what exactly happened between the two tech giants? Is it really a big news? Let’s find out.

Starting with the report, Huawei filed a lawsuit against MediaTek in China for breaching its patents. Most of these patents include cellular communication technology like 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. The chipmaker confirmed the filing on July 19.

None of the companies mentioned the exact reason behind this case. But a financial news site revealed that both companies tried to ink an agreement regarding patent licensing. The cooperation was in talks for 2-3 years but didn’t arrive at a settlement.

An internal source said that the chipmaker denied this agreement due to the high patent fee structure. Being one of the largest patent holders in the smartphone industry, Huawei does charge a certain amount to those who purchase its patents.

Other details note that Huawei sued MediaTek to collect licensing fees for investing in the R&D field. A few persons related to the matter even said that the company is taking such actions to boost sources of revenue following its smartphone business.

However, the first reporter of this news Enterprise Patent Observation said that Huawei is trying to expand its patent licensing to chipmakers rather than being confined to small device manufacturers. But the OEM didn’t respond on this subject.

Smartphone chips mainly integrate 3G, 4G, and 5G techs. But when it comes to fee collection, patent holders charge phone makers. This creates huge pressure on them.

However, shifting this fee from the device level to ‘the component level’ will ultimately relieve the smartphone makers in the time ahead. It may further reduce the expense of a smartphone in the consumer market.

The Chinese company has been trying to form its relations with other foreign companies on patent licensing since 2021. The aim was to collect royalties as it had been banned by the U.S. and didn’t have much support to stand firmly in the market.

Huawei tried to form agreements with tech vendors like BMW, VAG (Volkswagen, Audi Group), Mercedes Benz, and more. The company signed deals with OPPO and Samsung last year for 5G technologies.

In terms of suing, Huawei filed a patent infringement lawsuit against T-Mobile, Samsung, Verizon, Amazon, and more over 5G connectivity patents.

How Huawei will handle this dispute with MediaTek is still unclear. Though the conflict doesn’t seem to resolve so early as the chipmaker doesn’t see it as a major problem at this moment.