Investigation in FlashPoint-initiated case terminated as ZTE wins latest ITC ruling on patent complaints related to Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930

18 March 2014, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, is pleased about the decision by the United States International Trade Commission to terminate the investigation into complaints initiated by FlashPoint Technology Inc.

In a final decision, the ITC rejected FlashPoint’s complaints alleging infringement of digital camera patents and violations of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Apart from ZTE, other respondents in the FlashPoint case included HTC Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co.

The decision in the FlashPoint case followed the ITC’s ruling last month in favor of ZTE in a case initiated by Technology Properties Limited LLC, and a decision in December 2013 to reject the patent claims made by InterDigital Inc.

“We welcome the ITC’s ruling in the FlashPoint case. The three recent decisions issued by the ITC in favor of ZTE gave us increased confidence about our capabilities to defend our intellectual property rights,”said Guo Xiaoming, Chief Legal Officer of ZTE. “We regret the action taken by non-practicing entities (NPEs) in using litigation as an anti-competitive tactic to impose high patent licensing fees on counter-parties. U.S. authorities are becoming less tolerant of the behavior of NPEs, which is a positive development.”

ZTE’s strategic planning and industry-leading pool of intellectual property assets offer a strong safeguard to help the company prevail in patent litigations internationally.  

ZTE has filed applications for more than 50,000 patents globally, with more than 16,000 granted. ZTE is a global leader with more than 800 essential patents on the standardization 4G LTE. ZTE will continue to strengthen its portfolio of patents to attain globally-leading positions in core areas such as smart terminals, optical networking, cloud computing, big data and 4G LTE, and invest in next-generation technologies such as 5G. Such investments will be key to enhance ZTE’s competitiveness and intellectual property capabilities to help the company cope with changes in the technology landscape and market environment.

ZTE retained its global top-2 position in patent applications in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s annual rankings published this month.