Panasonic patents trust files claim against Xiaomi in Paris

The 4G telecoms patents owner Sun Patent Trust has “summoned” Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to a Paris court, according to a Wednesday (29 May) press release, and may be looking for witness testimony from the European telecommunications standardisation body. 

The dispute revolves around Xiaomi’s allegedly unauthorised use of Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) technology to provide 4G communication in “nearly all 4G enabled devices it produced since late 2018″, said the press release.

The Delaware-based Sun Patent Trust is asking the Paris Judicial Court to order Xiaomi to resume the negotiations and pay fair reasonable and non-discriminatory royalties related to sales of smartphones that include these patents.

The Sun Patent Trust is the licensing entity for some of Panasonic’s high-tech patents.

Euractiv asked Xiaomi for comment but did not receive an answer by the time of publication.

The 167 LTE-A technology patents in question have all been declared to ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, headquartered in France, said the trust. 

The trust chose France as the jurisdiction precisely because it is home to ETSI, the press release said, while providing a neutral forum for its litigation.

Sources familiar with the court case said ETSI could be called as an expert witness in the case. The body has played a significant role in shaping LTE and LTE-A standards, which are later used for assigning patents.

Separately, the trust has sued Xiaomi over patents infringement in the Delhi High Court, the press release said. Much of Xiaomi’s production is located in India.

The Trust approached Xiaomi in 2019, but the Chinese firm “signalled” it doesn’t intend to reach a licensing agreement, leading the trust to the Paris and Delhi courts, said the press release.

“This is only the second time [Sun Patent Trust] has had to resort to litigation since its formation in 2015,” said Joseph Casino, managing trustee at Sun Patent Trust. Casino is a former Panasonic employee and has represented the Japanese company in previous proceedings.

According to Sun Patent Trust, the worldwide case is worth upwards of $300 million (€326 million).

These proceedings are separate from the 24 lawsuits Panasonic filed worldwide in November 2023 against Xiaomi and Oppo.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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