Global fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer Transsion Group, a Shenzhen-listed company based in China, has once again found itself embroiled in a patent dispute. The world’s second-largest mobile chip supplier, Qualcomm, has filed a lawsuit against Transsion in the High Court of Delhi, India, alleging infringement of four non-standard essential patents.
According to a report by the Financial Times, earlier this week, Qualcomm sued Transsion, the manufacturer of brands such as Tecno, Itel, and Infinix, in India, and also filed claims of patent infringement in Europe and China.
Ann Chaplin, General Counsel of Qualcomm, stated in an interview on Friday, July 12, that “Transsion has refused to accept licenses for most of its mobile products from Qualcomm, so we are enforcing our rights through litigation.”
Chaplin added, “Qualcomm’s lawsuit against Transsion is to protect our patent rights and help all our licensees restore a fair competitive environment.”
Smartphones are composed of components and technologies developed by multiple companies holding patents. Smartphone manufacturers are obligated to pay patent royalties to each intellectual property owner. Failure to pay such fees may lead to legal action against the manufacturers.
In a statement released after the lawsuit, Qualcomm stated that Transsion recently signed a licensing agreement with Qualcomm for some of its products, but the majority of its products have not received licenses from Qualcomm and continue to infringe on Qualcomm’s valuable patent portfolio.
In a response to Chinese media outlet Interface News, Transsion stated, “We have entered into a 5G standard patent license agreement with Qualcomm and are currently fulfilling that agreement,” while accusing Qualcomm of not fully abiding by fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory principles.
Transsion has been known for its ultra-low-cost business model, using low pricing to gain market share and weaken competitors. According to research firm Counterpoint, the average selling price of Transsion smartphones ranges from $110 to $120.
Apart from Qualcomm, court documents revealed that in January of this year, Dutch company Philips also filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Transsion in India. As of now, both companies have not commented on this matter.
Philips initiated an infringement lawsuit against Xiaomi at the end of 2020, and in 2022, the two companies reached a patent licensing agreement for UMTS and LTE (3G/4G standard essential patents). Public records show that Philips holds a total of 49 4G standard essential patent families and 47 3G standard essential patent families.
According to sources cited by the Financial Times, Finnish telecom company Nokia is also pressuring Transsion to pay for the patent technologies used in its smartphones.
In September 2019, Chinese tech giant Huawei filed a legal lawsuit against Transsion in China, accusing Transsion of using Huawei’s boot screen without authorization, alleging intellectual property infringement. In June 2020, a court announcement indicated that the two parties had reached a settlement, but specific details were not disclosed.
Transsion, known as the “King of African Phones,” primarily sells low-cost phones in emerging markets. The company holds over 40% market share in the African smartphone market, ranking first. In the South Asian market, Transsion leads in the smartphone markets of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and ranks sixth in the Indian smartphone market.
Transsion is striving to carve out a place in the Indian smartphone market. Public data shows that in the 2023 fiscal year, Transsion’s profits in India nearly doubled compared to the previous year, reaching 2.1 billion rupees (about $25 million USD). Additionally, according to research firm Counterpoint, the company secured an 8.6% market share in the Indian smartphone market last year.