Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has told Verizon Communications Inc that the U.S. carrier should pay licensing fees for more than 200 of the Chinese telecoms equipment maker’s patents, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Verizon should pay to "solve the patent licensing issue," a Huawei intellectual property licensing executive wrote in February, according to the report.
The patents in question range from core network equipment, wireline infrastructure to internet-of-things technology, the WSJ reported.
Representatives for Huawei and Verizon met last week in New York to discuss some of the patents at issue, the WSJ said. Verizon does not use any telecoms equipment from Huawei.
Verizon spokesman Rich Young declined to comment "regarding this specific issue because it’s a potential legal matter."
However, Young said, "These issues are larger than just Verizon. Given the broader geopolitical context, any issue involving Huawei has implications for our entire industry and also raise national and international concerns."
A person briefed on the matter said it could impact more than a dozen Verizon vendors.
The United States last month put Huawei on a blacklist that barred it from doing business with U.S. companies on security grounds without government approval, prompting some global tech firms to cut ties with the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker.
Huawei and U.S. wireless carriers Sprint Corp, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US Inc did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Published by Agency, June 12, 2019)
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