Samsung fined $7.3 mln in China patent case - media
Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:21pm IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+] BEIJING, Dec 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) has been ordered to pay 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) to a Chinese company for infringing its dual-mode cellphone patent, Xinhua news agency reported.
Samsung was sued by Holley Communications, a company based in China's eastern Zhejiang province, in April last year for violating a patented technology allowing cellphones to operate on both CDMA and GSM networks, Xinhua said.
The Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, made the ruling on Saturday. The fine was a record pay-out for China's cellphone industry, Xinhua said.
"Samsung has sold more than 700,000 cellphones that contain Holley's patented technologies. The patents are still on sale. The compensation is only part of the sales," the agency quoted Ge Chen, Holley's executive director as saying.
Ge said the patent for the technology and equipment was obtained in 2002. Holley officials said they would seek more compensation, Xinhua said.
A spokesman for Samsung in Seoul said the company had not been notified of any official decision, but may appeal.
Samsung last month was hit by two separate sets of lawsuits for infringing patented technologies from Eastman Kodak (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Spansion SPSN.0.
Spansion accused Samsung of infringing its technology for flash memory, while Kodak accused the South Korean company along with LG Electronics (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) of infringing its patents for digital cameras. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) |
