In a ruling by Chinese mid-level court, Samsung has been ordered to play Huawei some $11.6 million for patient infringements that the Korean manufacture’s subsidiaries violated. The ruling will likely be appealed but is a fraction of the over $12 billion that Huawei was asking for in the original filing. In that filing, the Chinese manufacture claimed Samsung and more specifically, some of its subsidiaries that it uses to build their devices, used patented technology in up to 20 of their devices which had sold some 30 million units globally.
As part of the order, the subsidiaries in question, five in all, are ordered to stop using the patented technology in Samsung devices. It is unclear what, if any, impact it will have on the soon-to-be released Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
Samsung and Huawei have been suing and counter-suing each other for some time now. Currently there are cases in the United States and China all related to IP infringement. It is unlikely that these cases will be solved for many years as decisions are made and appeals are sought.
Overall, it hasn’t been a fantastic last six months for Samsung. The debacle of the Galaxy Note7 started things off last summer and more recently, the company’s CEO has been arrested in South Korea on corruption charges. While the Galaxy S8 is expected to be a record seller for the company, the result of this decision and the impact it has on the phone remains unclear.
You can read more details on the court order from Reuters.
