On 13 February 2020, China Business Law Journal published their “Deals of the Year 2019” which included the “Samsung v. Huawei Patent Infringement and Invalidation Disputes” and the “Sogou v. Baidu Patent Infringement Disputes” which were handled by Lifang & Partners.

Samsung v. Huawei

In May 2016, Huawei filed lawsuits against Samsung at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court and in the Northern District of California, USA, respectively, requesting the courts to order Samsung to stop infringing its patents and to pay damages. Samsung counterclaimed in July 2016. The two companies then started filing other proceedings in China and other places, which led to a catalogue of litigations against each other.

In May 2019, the two sides reached a framework agreement on cross-licensing of SEPs worldwide under the mediation of Guangdong High People's Court, and their worldwide lawsuits against each other were all settled.

Sogou v. Baidu

In late 2015, Sogou filed lawsuits against Baidu at Beijing Intellectual Property Court, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and Shanghai High People’s Court because Baidu was infringing 17 of Sogou’s IME patents. Those lawsuits involved claims of RMB 260 million.

In October 2016, Baidu counterclaimed before Beijing Intellectual Property Court, arguing that Sogou Pinyin IME and Sogou Mobile IME infringed upon 10 of Baidu’s IME patents, and asked the Court to order Sogou to pay RMB 100 million in damages. This series of disputes attracted much attention within the industry and the general public. This series of cases are known as “China’s first internet patent cases”.

Lifang & Partners is experienced in dealing with high-tech disputes. In the above cases, Lifang & Partners’ team showcased their professional skills, ability to innovate and legal knowledge by rapidly solving complex legal and technical problems to deliver targeted and satisfactory results.

As ever, the cases were evaluated based on comprehensive factors. The editorial team of China Business Law Journal selected these outstanding cases based on a number of objective factors, such as significance, complexity, innovation, size of the deal, and other things.