Qualcomm sues maker of Infinix, Tecno and iTel smartphones, here’s why – Times of India

Qualcomm has filed a lawsuit against Chinese smartphone maker Transsion Holdings, reports Financial Times. Transsion Holdings is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer and has brands like Tecno, Infinix and iTel under its portfolio.

Why Qualcomm has sued Transsion Holdings?
According to the FT report, the company is being alleged for violating intellectual property rights. Qualcomm has filed the lawsuit in India earlier this week, the report states.

The report quotes Qualcomm’s general counsel Ann Chaplin who said “Qualcomm has sued Transsion [ . . . ] to protect our patent rights and help restore a level playing field for all our licensees”.

He told the FT: “Transsion […] has declined to accept a licence from Qualcomm for the majority of its mobile products, so we are pursuing litigation to enforce our rights”.

It is noteworthy to state here that Transsion does not use Qualcomm chips for most of its smartphones. Tecno and Infinix-branded handsets largely ship with MediaTek processors.

Qualcomm has also ‘filed claims in Europe and China over alleged patent infringement,’ the report adds.
What Transsion Holdings has to say?
The FT report quotes a Transsion spokesperson who said it “respects the intellectual property rights of third parties”. He stated that the company is willing to reach an IP licence agreement with patent holders through “friendly negotiations”.

“We have signed a 5G standard patent licence agreement with Qualcomm and are in the process of fulfilling that agreement,” the spokesperson added.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Transsion Holdings is being sued for IP infringement. According to Chinese media reports, Huawei launched a legal action against Transsion in China in 2019 alleging IP violations.

As per the FT report, Philips has also sued Transsion in India. “In January, Philips filed an IP lawsuit against Transsion in India, another country where Transsion is trying to gain a foothold, according to court documents,” the report states.