US firm InterDigital drags Xiaomi to Delhi HC over two patent infringement cases

InterDigital claims that these complaints were filed after years of negotiations with Xiaomi.
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US-based mobile technology firm InterDigital has filed two patent infringement actions against Xiaomi in the Delhi High Court.  One complaint involves infringement of five of InterDigital’s cellular 3G and 4G Indian patents and the other complaint involves infringement of three of InterDigital’s H.265/HEVC Indian patents.

The company claims that these complaints were filed after years of negotiations and after InterDigital has made clear that it is willing to resolve the terms of a FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) license through binding arbitration. 

In the proceedings, InterDigital is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for Xiaomi’s infringement of the asserted patents.  The company is also seeking injunctive relief to prevent further infringement of the litigated patents in India, unless Xiaomi elects to take a license on terms determined to be FRAND by the court.

InterDigital claims that it has invested more than two decades of R&D effort in developing 3G, 4G and 5G technologies and the patents asserted in the H.265/HEVC action reflect the R&D of the company’s Research and Innovation Unit in video coding technologies, which was integrated into InterDigital’s research team after being acquired from Technicolor in 2019. 

 “Wireless and video standards play the important role of eliminating barriers to entry, enabling new companies – like Xiaomi – to enter the market and have success despite having made no investment in previous wireless research activities. Advanced research drives key wireless and video standards, and fair licenses with companies that make use of those technologies enable companies like InterDigital to reinvest in still more research, benefiting all users and the industry at large,” said William J. Merritt, President and CEO.

“We’re hopeful that this record of research and licensing success, coupled with this claim in the Delhi High Court, will result in a fair license, and that Xiaomi will join Samsung, Apple, Huawei and many others as customers of InterDigital,” he added.

InterDigital’s cellular 3G and 4G Indian patents that it is claiming infringement relates to an enhancement to 3G known as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). The patented invention increases efficiency of bandwidth usage during HSUPA transmission by ensuring that mobile phones utilize resources allocated to them for HSUPA transmission in an efficient manner.

Another relates to a technology that supports use of multiple antennae transmissions in 4G for better signals. Another one of the patens also reduces power consumption by selectively switching the mobile phone’s LTE modem into a sleep mode.

Meanwhile the H.265/HEVC Indian patents that it is claiming infringement on is related to picture and video quality. While one reduces the network resources required to steam videos, while reducing the memory needed to store videos within mobile phones, the other patent is for tech that enhances picture quality for a decoded video by providing a series of filters, including an adaptive filter, for reducing noise which is generated during the encoding process.  This invention results in visibly clearer video images, InterDigital said.

TNM has reached out to Xiaomi for a comment on the same and is yet to receive a response. The article will be updated if and when Xiaomi responds.

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