US firm InterDigital files patent infringement cases against Xiaomi in Delhi HC

• InterDigital has filed two has filed two patent infringement cases against Xiaomi in the Delhi high court related to cellular technology and video coding
• InterDigital claims it has been in negotiation with Xiaomi for years and filed the case after they couldn’t reach an agreement

NEW DELHI: InterDigital, a Delaware, US based mobile and video technology company, has filed two patent infringement cases against Xiaomi in the Delhi high court. InterDigital alleges unauthorised use of five cellular 3G and 4G patents and three H.265/HEVC (high efficiency video coding) patents by the Chinese phonemaker.

InterDigital claims it has been in negotiation with Xiaomi for years and filed the case after they couldn’t reach an agreement.

Mint has reached out to Xiaomi for comments on the matter.

The US company is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Xiaomi along with an injunction to prevent further infringement in India, unless Xiaomi agrees to a FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non- discriminatory) license determined by the court.

“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,” William J. Merritt, president and CEO, InterDigital said in a statement.

Samsung, Apple, Huawei are some of the other phone companies that are using InterDigital products.

InterDigital’s Indian patents on the cellular side that are in contention include solutions which enhance utilisation of cellular resources for applications (such as VoIP) which require continuous allocations of uplink resources. The other patents allow mobile phone users quick and efficient access to 4G (LTE) networks and reduce power consumption by selectively switching the handset’s LTE modem to sleep mode.

The patents related to videos include an enhanced video decoder, which reduces the network resources required to deliver videos while reducing the memory needed to store videos on the handset, resulting in improved video streaming experience. The other solution enhances picture quality for a decoded video by providing a series of filters.

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