据美国法律媒体报道，6月29日，中兴通讯在美国德州特克萨卡纳地方法院被判故意侵犯Maxell的七项专利权，需赔偿4300万美元。

Maxell的律师称，自2013年以来，Maxell一直试图与中兴通讯进行许可谈判。期间中兴通讯承认使用了Maxell的一些技术，但仍拒绝接受许可。因此，中兴通讯被认为是故意侵权，需要承担高达三倍的惩罚性赔偿。最终，陪审团支持了Maxell请求的全部4300万美元的合理使用费作为赔偿。

总部位于东京的Maxell拥有5,300项专利组合，其中许多专利于2013年从日立公司的光电子部门购买。本案涉及的专利涉及图像稳定性，视频采样，音频解码，电源管理和行人导航优化。

Maxell目前正在使用47项专利针对黑莓公司，奥林巴斯公司，华为技术有限公司，华硕电脑公司和蓝光产品公司，Fandango媒体网络公司和FOTV媒体网络公司等提起诉讼。

这篇报道最后也指出，尽管现在中兴通讯因其与美国特朗普政府之间的争议而广受关注，但是，本案中42位陪审团成员中只有2人知道相关新闻。

总之，知识产权问题需要引起中国企业的重视。

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原文如下：

Maxell Wins $43M in Smartphone Patent Dispute With ZTE

A Texarkana jury gave Maxell all the damages it asked for, plus a finding of willfulness.

By Scott Graham

Consumer electronics manufacturer Maxell Ltd. has scored a $43 million patent infringement verdict against smartphone maker ZTE Corp. in the Eastern District of Texas.

A jury in Judge Robert Schroeder III’s Texarkana courtroom found June 29 that ZTE willfully infringed all asserted claims of seven Maxell patents, which means ZTE could potentially be on the hook for treble damages. The patents cover camera functionality, audio processing, power management and navigation, at least some of which are used in 105 accused ZTE products.

Maxell, represented by Mayer Brown, got additional good news Monday when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board turned away the last of ZTE’s seven administrative challenges to the validity of the patents.

Mayer Brown partner Jamie Beaber said Maxell has been trying to negotiate a license with ZTE since 2013. The company at times admitted using some of Maxell’s technology, but still resisted taking a license, Beaber said. “I think the jury understood that what we were asking for was reasonable,” he said.

The jury awarded Maxell’s entire ask of a $43 million reasonable royalty in Maxell v. ZTE.

Beaber had help from Mayer Brown partners Alan Grimaldi and Kfir Levy and counsel James “Tripp” Fussell III. Geoff Culbertson of Patton Tidwell & Culbertson provided local counsel.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Findlay Craft represented Shenzhen, China-based ZTE.

Tokyo-based Maxell owns a portfolio of 5,300 patents, many of them purchased in 2013 from the optronics division of Hitachi Ltd. The patent at issue in the trial related to image stability, video sampling, audio decoding, power management, and navigation that’s optimized for pedestrians, rather than drivers.

Maxell is presently litigating some 47 different patents against BlackBerry Corp., Olympus Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., ASUSTeK Computer Inc. and Blu Products Inc., Fandango Media Networks Inc. and FOTV Media Networks Inc., according to data compiled by RPX Corp.

Beaber said ZTE had been concerned about the impact of news coverage of the dispute between ZTE and the Trump administration. But voir dire indicated that only two of 42 venire persons or prospective jurors were aware of the news coverage.