Samsung, Huawei Settle 2-Year Patent Dispute in US

South Korea's Samsung Electronics and China's Huawei Technologies have agreed to settle their two-year patent battle over wireless technology in the US, court documents showed on Friday. Huawei, the world's biggest telecom equipment maker, had in 2016 brought suits against Samsung in San Francisco and China, claiming that the South Korean company used its cellular technology without a licence.

Samsung argued that it made significant concessions to Huawei to resolve the dispute amicably, but the two failed to agree on reasonable terms, Yonhap news agency reported.

In 2017, a Chinese court ordered Samsung to pay Huawei $11.6 million (around Rs. 81 crores) for patent infringements.

In an electronic case filing issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California on February 26, the world's two largest smartphone makers agreed to "complete the pending steps to finalise the settlement" within the next 30 days.

The intellectual property dispute that has pitted the two companies against each other illustrates the cut-throat competition underway in the wireless market.

On Thursday, Huawei sued the US government challenging a recent law that bans federal agencies from buying its products.

The Shenzhen-based tech firm refuted US claims that its technology poses a security threat and said the ban would ultimately harm American consumers.

The lawsuit, filed in a US District Court in Plano, Texas, challenges the constitutionality of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed by President Donald Trump in August last year.

According to the complaint, the legislation not only bars all US government agencies from buying Huawei equipment and services but also bars them from contracting with or awarding grants or loans to third parties who buy Huawei equipment or services.