Qualcomm sues Chinese biz

California-based chip designer Qualcomm has sued Chinese electronics maker Meizu in Beijing and Shanghai.

The lawsuits, announced one week apart, cover Qualcomm's WCDMA, CDMA2000 and LTE patents, alleging that Meizu copied the designs for use in their own 3G and LTE chips.

"Although Qualcomm would have preferred to reach a resolution with Meizu without the need for litigation, Meizu, unfortunately, has been unwilling to negotiate in good faith and enter into a license agreement on the rectification plan terms, while unfairly expanding its business through the use of Qualcomm's innovations without compensating Qualcomm for the use of Qualcomm's valuable technologies," Qualcomm said.

The failure of Chinese companies to pay licensing fees has been a long-running gripe for Qualcomm, which makes its revenue from chipmakers licensing its chip designs in their hardware. ®