Telecom Lead India: Chinese telecom equipment and terminal
maker ZTE announced that it has been ranked fourth for the most smartphone
patents of any company globally, with 972 total applications.
According to report by the State Intellectual Property
Office of the People’s Republic of China, ZTE also ranked first in China for
smartphone patent applications, with 1,019.
The report said applications for smart phone patents
increased rapidly around the globe from 2003 through 2006. In China,
applications for smart phone patents began to increase rapidly in 2005. During
that year, applications filed by domestic applicants outnumbered those filed by
overseas applicants for the first time.
Patent applications are important to ZTE. Our global and
domestic rankings in smartphone patent filings show the company’s commitment to
R&D and innovation,” said ZTE Executive Vice President He Shiyou.
ZTE has over a decade of experience in cell phone
R&D. To date, ZTE has acquired more than 8,000 total cell phone patents at
home and abroad. Of those, over 6,000 are Chinese patents. It also holds more
than 2,000 international PCT patents, with more than 70 per cent of those
related to 3G and cellular.
In 2011, ZTE’s cell phone business grew more than 50 per
cent year-on-year, and its global shipments of smart terminals topped 12
million, a year-on-year increase of 400 per cent.
According to a report by research firm Gartner, ZTE is
the second-fastest-growing smartphone maker in the world. In the fourth quarter
of 2011, the company became the world’s No. 4 cell phone maker in terms of
shipment volume.
Ericsson and ZTE resolve patent license issues
Recently, Ericsson and ZTE resolved patent license issues
by dropping all lawsuits and ZTE signing royalty-bearing license agreement to
certain Ericsson patents.
In April 2011 Ericsson filed lawsuits in Germany, UK and
Italy against ZTE for infringing on several Ericsson patents related to GSM and
3G/UMTS cellular technology. The parties have now signed a global
cross-licensing agreement and both parties have also agreed to drop all
litigation.
