Xiaomi, Oppo sued by Panasonic over 4G patent infringement, adding to legal battles faced by Chinese smartphone giants

Xiaomi and Oppo will face lawsuits filed by Japanese electronics giant Panasonic in China and Europe over 4G technologies, adding to a string of patent disputes that major Chinese smartphone makers are grappling with globally.

The cases concern patents on cellular communications technologies that are crucial to implementing industry standards, according to a statement by Panasonic on Wednesday.

“This is the first time Panasonic sees a need to initiate actions associated with its cellular communications [standard-essential patents],” the firm said.

It added that it had successfully reached licensing agreements with other smartphone companies, but failed to reach similar pacts with Xiaomi and Oppo after “years of bilateral negotiations”.

A Xiaomi store in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

The lawsuits will proceed concurrently in China, Germany, the UK and the Unified Patent Court of the European Union, Panasonic said.

Shenzhen-based Oppo declined to comment on Thursday. Beijing-based Xiaomi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chinese smartphone makers have been battling a series of patent disputes, some of which have forced these brands to retreat from certain European markets that are important to their international ambitions.

A regional court in the southwestern German city of Mannheim had determined that Oppo’s use of certain 4G and 5G telecommunications technologies infringed on the Finnish giant’s patents, following its first ruling against the Chinese firm a year earlier over Nokia’s Wi-fi patents.

Oppo has since deleted from its German websites information about all its products, while subsidiary OnePlus has removed information about its smartphones from its local website. OnePlus wireless earbuds and other accessories are still available for purchase on the company’s German website.

An Oppo store in Shanghai. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Vivo, a sister company of Oppo, in May also stopped selling its products in Germany following a similar ruling in favour of Nokia over 4G patents. It came after Vivo in October pulled plans to bring its products to the Netherlands, where Nokia raised a similar lawsuit.

At home, Xiaomi is locked in an intellectual property dispute with rival Huawei Technologies over patents that cover a screen-lock mechanism and other designs.

In the second quarter, Xiaomi was the world’s third-largest smartphone seller with 12 per cent of the global market, trailing Samsung Electronics and Apple, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

Amid headwinds in its two biggest markets China and India, however, Xiaomi saw a 12 per cent year-on-year drop in worldwide sales during the period.

Oppo followed in the fourth position, holding 10 per cent of the market after losing ground in western Europe, Counterpoint analysts said.

South China Morning Post