Huawei Says It Got Over $1.4 Billion in Licensing Revenue Since 2015

Huawei Technologies said it has received over $1.4 billion (roughly Rs. 9,700 crores) in licensing revenue since 2015 and paid more than $6 billion (roughly Rs. 42,000 crores) in royalties to legally implement intellectual property of other companies.

The Chinese firm has never been asked by a court to pay intellectual infringement damages and has been granted 87,805 patents of which 11,152 are US patents, Huawei's chief legal officer, Song Liuping, said at a news conference at the company's Shenzhen headquarters on Thursday.

Huawei, which has the most 5G standard essential patents in the world according to consultancy IPlytics, is increasingly on the offensive in intellectual property right disputes.

The United States has put Huawei on an export blacklist citing national security issues, barring US suppliers from selling to the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker and No.2 maker of smartphones, without special approval.

The firm, which has denied its products pose a security threat, has sought to fight back in US courts.

The company recently sued the US government over its defence law, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), that placed a broad ban on the use of federal money to purchase products from Huawei on national security grounds.

It has also demanded that US carrier Verizon pay licensing fees for more than 230 of the telecoms equipment maker's patents and is seeking more than $1 billion, a person has told Reuters.

Analysts have said Huawei may be more inclined to monetize its US patents now that the market ban and supplier ban imposed by Washington is expected to cost the firm $30 billion in revenue a year.

Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said at a press event earlier this month that Huawei "would not weaponise" it patents, but also pointed out that the firm does have many "unclaimed patent royalties from other companies".

© Thomson Reuters 2019