Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. v. ZTE Corp.
Court of Justice of the European Union
Case No. C-170/13 (2015)
Relevant factsFree
Huawei Technologies (plaintiff) owned a standard-essential patent and sued ZTE Corp. (defendant) for infringement after proposing, but failing to reach agreement on, a licensing arrangement including what Huawei considered a reasonable royalty rate. ZTE argued Huawei's infringement suit itself constituted an abuse of a dominant market position.
IssueFree
Whether the owner of a standard-essential patent abuses its dominant position by bringing an action for infringement as long as the owner has alerted the alleged infringer and has made an attempt to enter into a fair licensing agreement with the alleged infringer.