面對侵犯其他公司專利的指控，中國電信設備巨擘華為公司（2016年世界500強排名第129位）用了相當多的時間在美國法庭為自己辯護。

對法院文件的回顧顯示，2003年以來，至少有172件聯邦專利侵權案將華為或其子公司列為被告或聯合被告。這些文件同時表明，今年以前華為從未提起過聯邦訴訟。

今年1月份，華為起訴美國電信運營商T-Mobile侵犯其專利，并在上周追加了訴訟。5月份華為還起訴了韓國電子行業龍頭三星。

這個看似突然的戰略轉變由來已久。法庭文件顯示，2013年華為首次通知T-Mobile，自己持有高速3G和4G無線網絡傳輸標準相關專利，希望對方支付專利費。同時，華為至少從2013年就開始為類似行業標準專利問題和三星接觸，但提交給法院的相關文件尚未公開。《財富》雜志還了解到，華為還和諾基亞就雙方共同持有的專利進行了磋商。

這些高度公開的訴訟讓整個行業開始猜測，這家中國電信設備龍頭企業為什么最終決定要通過美國法院扳回一城呢？

許多專利界人士認為，此舉是華為在美國市場大規模銷售熱門智能手機的前奏。華為此前在美國推出過幾款手機，其中包括由谷歌負責銷售的Nexus 6P。在外界看來，長期以來因專利侵權遭到起訴是華為進入美國手機市場的障礙。在這個市場，蘋果等公司會毫不遲疑地把對手告上法庭。此外，以往華為向美國提供電信網絡設備的努力則因為國家安全顧慮而化為泡影。

最近，華為高層開始公開談論大舉進軍美國手機市場的問題。該公司副董事長胡厚崑去年12月接受《華爾街日報》采訪時稱：“我們已經在中國[智能手機]市場取得領先位置。我們希望在美國可以取得同樣的成功。”

威嘉律師事務所專利訴訟部門聯合董事長布萊恩·弗格森認為，考慮到這一點，上述訴訟有可能成為新一輪智能手機訴訟的“開幕禮炮”。

弗格森說：“華為想打進美國移動設備市場，但也知道業界龍頭不會對自己表示歡迎。它并沒有等著其他公司來起訴自己，看來華為打算傳遞的信號是，它握有專利，不會坐等成為別人的目標。”

智能手機之戰

盡管多年來惹上了許多官司，但華為也亮出了自家的眾多知識產權。在最近的兩起訴訟中，華為都表示，自己在全球各地擁有逾5萬項專利，而且僅去年就在美國申請專利1,268項。涉訴專利已經納入手機行業標準，實際上所有手機廠商和無線通信運營商都不可能避開這些專利。

就在華為提起訴訟的當口，蘋果已故CEO史蒂夫·喬布斯2010年發起的智能手機專利戰似乎終于平息了下來。包括蘋果、谷歌、微軟和愛立信在內，大多數主要廠商都在過去幾年達成了和解協議。同時，美國最高法院下次開庭時將對蘋果之前起訴三星的案件中未完結的部分舉行聽證會。

不過，紐約法學院高級電信法與政策研究所負責人邁克爾·桑托萊利認為，華為提起的新訴訟是一個信號，它表明戰火可能重燃。

桑托萊利說：“只要專利仍被視為劍和盾，并且繼續用于在這個競爭激烈的領域爭奪主導權，這場戰斗看來就會延續下去。”

華為毫不掩飾自己進入美國手機市場的意圖，不過除了那些顯而易見的信息，該公司并未做過多表示。

華為負責外部事物的副總裁威廉·普拉默告訴《財富》雜志：“華為擁有的大量專利對LTE網絡服務運營都很關鍵。協商總是最理想的途徑，但在某些情況下，企業不得不通過向法院提告來保護自己的投資和知識產權。”

對于起訴的時間點，是否計劃起訴其他公司，以及是否已經通過協商達成和解，華為均拒絕做出評論。《華爾街日報》上個月曾報道，華為和蘋果今年就專利費達成了協議。

一些業內人士認為，上述法律糾紛和即將到來的市場推廣并無關聯。一位熟悉華為情況的人士透露，發生訴訟只是因為華為拿到了更多專利而其他公司拒絕支付專利費，“如果你們不想合作，我們就要強行主張自己的權利了。”

關鍵專利

華為于1987年在深圳成立。這座毗鄰香港的城市是中國第一個經濟特區，經濟法規較為寬松。去年，華為公布的銷售額幾乎達到610億美元（約4081億元人民幣），成為全球兩大蜂窩網絡設備制造商之一，移動設備銷售額全球排名第三。華為的美國總部設在德州普萊諾市。

華為提起的訴訟并不是針對有爭議的設計專利，或者說就像蘋果用于起訴三星的某項專利，涉及一款手機的長方形機身和圓弧邊角。相反，涉訴專利是華為開發的無線網絡技術，目前已經成為基本行業標準的一部分。

一項專利技術被納入基本標準前，技術所有者必須同意按“公平、合理而且非歧視”的原則進行授權。此舉旨在防止某家公司阻撓競爭對手使用某項可能已經成為整個行業立足點的技術。不過，就算按照這項所謂的FRAND要求，專利所有者仍有權索取專利費。

就韓國三星而言，華為表示前者幾乎所有智能手機，包括最新款的Galaxy S7，都在使用華為的技術來連接UMTS和LTE蜂窩網絡。比如說，訴訟提到的一項專利通過減少手機和基站的通信量來改善手機的數據接收水平。華為在訴訟中指控三星侵犯了11項專利，另外還涉及兩項可能成為專利的技術，華為已經提出申請，目前尚未公開。

面對華為的指控，三星尚未應訴。作為全球最大手機廠商，這家韓國公司的女發言人表示，三星正在“全面核實華為的主張，并將采取恰當行動來保護自己的商業利益。”

華為上周起訴T-Mobile時稱，后者使用的高速無線網絡標準涉及華為的幾十項專利。1月份華為已經指控T-Mobile侵犯其14項專利。

T-Mobile同樣尚未應訴，而且拒絕就此發表評論。2014年，該公司曾起訴華為盜竊商業機密，內容涉及可模擬人對觸摸屏進行操作的智能手機檢測機器人。此案仍在審理之中。

對于1月份華為提起的訴訟，T-Mobile表示華為未能具體說明自己怎樣侵犯了對方的14項專利，而且自己用于建立通信網絡的設備均購自第三方。上個月，作為第三方之一的諾基亞在法庭上稱，它為T-Mobile提供了很多涉訴設備，并且已經開始和華為商討專利交叉授權的可能性。

諾基亞表示，到目前為止一直未能就此達成協議。該公司向《財富》雜志提供的聲明稱：“華為拒絕了諾基亞迄今為止提出的所有合理解決方案。”諾基亞還認為，華為起訴電信運營商而非設備制造商的行為前所未有。

7月6日，美國治安法官羅伊·佩恩拒絕將此案交給調解人做協商和解處理。

和解可能耗時數月。同時，其他公司還得看看華為是否計劃在進入美國市場前擴大司法領域的攻擊范圍。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：詹妮

Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies has spent considerable time in U.S. courtrooms defending itself from allegedly infringing on other companies’ patents.

Huawei or its subsidiaries have been cited as a defendant or co-defendant in at least 172 federal patent infringement cases since 2003, according to a review of court filings. But the same records showed that the company had never pressed its own federal lawsuits until this year.

In January, it filed a patent infringement case against U.S. telecommunications carrier T-Mobile , with an additional filing this week. And in May it sued Korean electronics giant Samsung.

The seemingly sudden change in strategy has been a long time coming. Huawei first notified T-Mobile in 2013 that it wanted royalty payments for patents it held related to transmission standards for high-speed 3G and 4G wireless networks, according to court filings. And it touched base with Samsung over similar industry-standard patents at least as early as 2013, although portions of that lawsuit have been filed under seal. Huawei has also had talks with Nokia over patents held by both companies, Fortune has learned.

But the highly public lawsuits have ignited speculation across the industry over why the Chinese giant has chosen finally to seek legal redress in U.S. Courts.

Many in the patent community see the move as a prelude to Huawei selling its popular smartphone handsets in the U.S. market on a large scale. Huawei has offered a few phone previously, such as the Nexus 6P sold by Google. The company’s long track record of being sued for patent infringement was thought to be a hurdle to entering the U.S. phone market, whereApple and others have not hesitated to sue rivals. And the company’s bid to supply telecom networking gear has in the past been hampered by national security concerns.

More recently, Huawei executives have openly discussed making a major phone push in the U.S. “We have already seized a leading position in the Chinese [smartphone] market,” Huawei deputy chairman Ken Hu told the?Wall Street Journal in December. “We hope that in the U.S. we can achieve the same success.”

With that in mind, the Huawei lawsuits could be the “opening salvo” of a new round of smartphone litigation, Brian Ferguson, co-chair of the patent litigation practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, says.

“Huawei wants to break into the U.S. mobile device market and it knows that the industry leaders are not going to just welcome it to the party,” Ferguson says. “Rather than wait to be sued, it looks like Huawei wants to send a message that it has its own patents and will not just sit back and be a target.”

Smartphone Wars

Despite all the lawsuits against Huawei over the years, the company points to an extensive intellectual property catalog of its own. In both its recent lawsuits, Huawei says it has over 50,000 patents worldwide, including 1,268 issued in the United States just last year. The patents involved in the lawsuits have been incorporated into mobile industry standards, making it virtually impossible for any phone maker or wireless carrier to avoid them.

The lawsuits from Huawei have also arrived just as it seemed that the smartphone patent wars, kicked off by the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2010, were finally winding down. Most of the major players, including Apple, Google , Microsoft , and Ericsson have reached settlements over the past few years. And the Supreme Court will hear what remains of Apple’s early suit against Samsung in its upcoming term.

Huawei’s new lawsuits are a sign, however, that the battles are likely to flare up again, according to Michael Santorelli, who heads the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School.

“It looks like it will continue to rage on so long as patents are viewed and wielded as swords and shields in the ongoing fight for supremacy in this intensely competitive space,” Santorelli says.

Huawei, which has made no secret of its plans to enter the U.S. mobile phone market, isn’t saying much itself beyond the obvious.

“Huawei owns numerous patents which are essential to the operation of LTE network services,” William Plummer, vice president for external affairs, tells Fortune. “Negotiation is always the preferred route, but, in some instances, companies are compelled to (go to) the courts to protect their investments and intellectual property.”

The company declined to comment on the timing of the lawsuits, whether it planned to sue additional companies, or if it had reached any negotiated settlements. The company struck a deal with Apple this year for patent royalties, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

Some insiders reject the connection between the recent lawsuits and the coming market push. The litigation is simply due to other companies refusing to pay licensing fees as Huawei has been awarded more patents, according to one person familiar with the company. “If you don’t want to play ball, we’re going to enforce our rights,” the person said.

Essential Patents

Huawei was founded in 1987 in Shenzhen, a city near Hong Kong that was the country’s first designated “special economic zone” with looser economic regulations. Last year, the company reported sales of almost $61 billion, ranking as one of the top two makers of cellular network equipment and as the world’s third-largest seller of mobile devices. Its U.S. headquarters is in Plano, Tex.

The company’s lawsuits don’t rely on controversial design patents, like one of the patents Apple wielded against Samsung that covers a phone with a rectangular shape and rounded corners. Instead, Huawei is suing over technology it developed for wireless networks that was subsequently incorporated into essential industry standards.

Before a patented technology is included in an essential standard, the owner must agree to license it on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms. That’s to prevent a company from seeking to hamper rivals for use of technology that an entire industry may depend on. But even under the so-called FRAND requirement, a patent owner is still entitled to royalties.

In the case of Samsung, Huawei says virtually all of the Korean companies smartphones, including the most recent Galaxy S7 models, use its technology to connect to UMTS and LTE cellular networks. One patent cited in the lawsuit, for example, improves the rate of data flowing to a phone by reducing the amount of information the phone must communicate to a cellular base station. The lawsuit cites 11 patents that Samsung is allegedly infringing, with two additional causes for action that could be patents currently filed under seal.

Samsung has not yet filed its reply to Huawei’s lawsuit. The Korean company, the world’s largest phone maker, is “thoroughly reviewing the complaints and will take appropriate action to defend Samsung’s business interests,” a spokeswoman said.

In the T-Mobile case that Huawei filed this week, the Chinese company says it has dozens of patents that are part of the standards for high-speed wireless networks used by T-Mobile. That followed a case filed in January alleging infringement on 14 specific patents.

T-Mobile, which has not yet filed a reply in the case, declined to comment. The company sued Huawei in 2014 for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to a robot that tests smartphones by simulating a person tapping the screen. The case is still pending.

In response to the January lawsuit, T-Mobile argued that Huawei failed to say specifically how it infringed on the 14 patents and noted that it had purchased all of the equipment to build its networks from third parties. Last month, one of those third parties–Nokia–told the court that it supplied much of T-Mobile’s equipment related to the case and was already negotiating with Huawei about possibly cross-licensing patents.

Nokia says it so far been unable to strike a deal. “Huawei has refused all reasonable resolution options Nokia has offered to date,” the Finnish company said in a statement to Fortune. Huawei’s lawsuit against a telecom carrier, instead of against equipment makers, is unprecedented, Nokia said.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne referred the case to a mediator to seek a negotiated settlement.

A settlement could take months. In the meantime, other companies will have to wait and see if Huawei plans to expand its legal attack ahead of its market attack.