Huawei asks Verizon for more than $ 1 billion in patent licensing fees



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(Reuters) – Huawei told Verizon that the US carrier should pay license fees for more than 230 patents from the Chinese telecom equipment maker and ask for more than a billion dollars in total, a person informed on Wednesday said.

Verizon should pay to "solve the problem of patent licensing," wrote a Huawei IP license chief in February, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier. The patents cover the network equipment of more than 20 of the company's suppliers, including major US technology companies, but these would compensate Verizon, added the same person. Huawei has contacted directly some of these companies, added this person.

The patents in question range from core network equipment, wired infrastructure to IoT technology, the Journal reported. The license fees for more than 230 requested patents rise to more than a billion dollars, said the person.

Huawei has been fighting the US government for more than a year. National security experts fear that the "back doors" of Huawei routers, switches and other equipment could allow China to spy on US communications. Huawei denied that it would help China to spy.

The companies involved, including Verizon, informed the US government and the dispute arose as the quarrel escalated between China and the United States. The application for license fees may relate more to the geopolitical battle between China and the United States than the demand for patent rights.

Representatives from Huawei and Verizon met in New York last week to discuss some of the patents in issue and determine whether Verizon uses material from other companies that could violate Huawei's patents.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young declined to comment "on this specific issue because it is a potential legal case."

However, Young said, "These issues are not just about Verizon. Given the broader geopolitical context, any issue involving Huawei has implications for our entire sector and also raises national and international concerns.

T-Mobile US and AT & T wireless telephony companies in Huawei and the United States did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Sprint declined to comment.

In the United States, last month, Huawei was blacklisted, preventing it from dealing with US companies for security reasons without government approval, forcing some high-tech companies to break ties with the company. the world's leading manufacturer of telecommunications equipment.

Washington is also seeking the extradition of Canada, Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, following his arrest in Vancouver last December, under a US warrant.

Since then, China has increased pressure on Canada by ending Canadian imports of canola and, in May, suspended the licenses of two major pork producers.

(Report by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Edited by Anil D'Silva, Sriraj Kalluvila and Sandra Maler)

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