Samsung units ordered by Chinese court to pay $11.6m to Huawei over patent infringement

Samsung has been ordered by a Chinese court to pay 80 million yuan ($11.6m, £9.31m) to Huawei for patent infringement.

China's Quanzhou Intermediary Court ordered three units of Samsung to pay for infringing a patent held by Huawei Device, the smartphone division of Huawei, reports Reuters, quoting Quanzhou Evening news.

In the Quanzhou court, Huawei filed a lawsuit against Samsung China Investment, a unit in Huizhou a unit in Tianjin, and two other Chinese electronics companies for selling more than 20 types of Samsung mobile devices that allegedly infringed Huawei's patent.

Huawei sought compensation for more than 30 million products, including the Galaxy S7, that sold for $12.7bn.

The court also ordered the five companies to stop infringing Huawei's patents.

A Huawei spokesperson said it welcomed the court's decision, whereas Samsung said it would decide on its response after reviewing the ruling.

Last May, Huawei filed a lawsuit against Samsung in the US and China seeking compensation over alleged unlicensed use of fourth-generation cellular communications technology, operating systems and user interface software in Samsung's smartphones.

In 2015, Huawei invested 59.6 billion yuan or 15% of its annual revenue in research and development, products and wireless communications standards. The company said it generated 50,377 patents as of 31 December, 2015.

In response to the lawsuit, Samsung sued Huawei in a Beijing court in July 2016 claiming patent infringements.