Xiaomi International, the Chinese electronics company, is moving to grow its patent portfolio and also complete more strategic deals in preparation for a move into the U.S. market, Re/code reported Thursday (July 16).
The corporate actions come via comments from the company’s chief, Hugo Barra, who said at the Code conference that those strategic initiatives are laying the groundwork for movement into both the U.S. and Europe, where intellectual property issues “are taken seriously,” Re/code said. The executive offered no timeframe for the impending market entries.
Though Xiaomi has thus far hewn to its home base in China, and also India, the company is being sued over intellectual patents by Ericsson, and according to the article, is also likely to face legal challenges from other entities as it enters more fully developed markets.
Barra said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that his company has filed for 2,000 patents.
“Think of it as, like, a war chest of sorts,” Barra said.
“Basically, there’s two things that we’re doing — and which take time,” he told Bloomberg. “One is systematically taking patent licenses — around the world. You know, if it’s a patent and it’s an essential patent then, of course, it needs to be licensed. Secondly, we’re building our own portfolio of patents, you know, for defensive purposes because you kind of have to have that.”
Re/code said there are two types of patents key to the company for now. Those patents would include those related to wireless standards that are held by tech and chip giants such as Nokia and Qualcomm and also other patents that have to do with smartphone designs and features. There could be legal issues surrounding designs and features that resemble, say, Apple’s own features. As Re/code noted, Xiaomi may indeed get patents and intellectual property from tech peers but could still face legal action.
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