Huawei Sued Over Image Processing Patents

Cedar Lane Technologies sued Huawei Technologies USA Inc. Monday in the Eastern District of Texas for patent infringement, claiming that Huawei infringed the image related patents-in-suit by its use of these patented methods and systems in its devices.

Cedar Lane claimed that Huawei infringes a variety of patents covering JPEG compression, scene recognition, electro-luminescent devices, image processing systems, a host interface for imaging arrays, and virtual reality cameras. Huawei is accused of direct, induced, and contributory infringement of ten patents.  

For example, Huawei allegedly infringed one patent through its products, such as “smartphones series: Mate Xs, Mate X, Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro…Honor View 10, Honor 8… GR3, GW, Ascend, P10…Y9 and tablets series: MediaPad M5, MediaPad M6 and MediaPad T5,” which have been “made, used, sold, imported, and offered for sale by Defendant.” Specifically, Huawei is accused of infringing claim 8 of the ’527 patent, which covers “[a] method for interfacing analog/digital converting means and JPEG compression means, said JPEG compression means having a built-in memory device, comprising the steps of: sequentially reading a predetermined number of image lines from the image data output of said analog/digital converting means.” 

The plaintiff stated that Huawei infringed the patents because it utilizes this image conversion methodology. For instance, Cedar Lane claimed that Huawei devices support “encoding images into JPEG compressed media”; the devices have image capturing systems with an analog/digital converter, which convert analog image data into digital image data, through lines and columns of code correlating to image sensors and the image processing subsystem. The image processing subsystem allegedly reads the image data line by line from the image capture system, this data is then stored in the devices’ local memory. 

Cedar Lane added that Huawei also infringed its patents by having its “employees internally test and use these Exemplary Products.” The plaintiff stated that the defendant was knowledgeable about this patent and reportedly used or created its products in a way that infringes the patent.

The plaintiff has sought a judgment that the patents-in-suit are valid and enforceable and that Huawei has infringed these patents. The plaintiff has also sought an award for damages and an award for costs and fees.

Cedar Lane Technologies is represented by Rabicoff Law LLC. The patents-in-suit are United States Patent Nos. 6,473,527, 6,516,147, 6,566,805, 6,972,774, 6,972,790, 7,292,261, 8,537,242, and 9,961,264.

Huawei is no stranger to patent litigation – it filed suit in February against Verizon. The company has also been banned from operating inside the United States over fears of its connections with the Chinese government.

Article Source: https://lawstreetmedia.com/tech/intellectual-property/huawei-sued-for-patent-infringement-over-image-related-patents/