Report emanating from China, has just confirmed that the world number 2 smartphone maker – Huawei, have just sued Transion Holdings in a local court in China. OK, before you begin asking who or what Transion Holding is, let me help! Transion Holdings is the mother company of Tecno Mobiles. Transion is also the company behind Infinix Mobility and iTel Mobiles, all of which are Chinese-African focused smartphone makers.
Huawei is said to have sue Transion Holdings over IPR theft. According to Business Dictionary, Interlectual Property Right, popularly known as IP(R) is;
A right that is had by a person or by a company to have exclusive rights to use its own plans, ideas, or other intangible assets without the worry of competition, AT LEAST FOR A SPECIFIC PERIOD OF TIME. These rights can include copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. These rights may be enforced by a court via a lawsuit. The reasoning for intellectual property is to encourage innovation without the fear that a competitor will steal the idea and / or take the credit for it.
According to the law suit, Huawei claims that Transion Holdings has made use of some of her Interlectual Properties that are not licensed or leased to company.
Notice the bolded clause above? It means IP right can expire, and when it does expire, anyone could freely make use of that IP. This is the reason why some phone makers still manufacture 2G/3G phones in the continent of Africa. They are simply using expired IPs to avoid lawsuits. According to gizmochina.com, Transion Holdings currently has only 630 network patents and 286 computer software copyrights to its name in China, while it direct competitors like Huawei or Xiaomi has above 100,000 copyrights.
Some Latest Trends Worth Noting;
For the record, Transion owned Tecno, iTel and Infinix currently have a spot in the list of top 5 smartphone makers in Africa according to a canalys report of 2017/2018. Also in a recent global report, specifically Tecno Mobiles made it, to be on number ten (10) of the world largest smartphone vendors.
It is also worth noting that Transion Holdings is currently gaining good grounds in the Asian Pacific Market, a market heavily dominated by Huawei and it Honor brands. 2G/3G phones don’t reign in these markets. And even in Africa, the primary dome of Transion, almost every network provider, and even local phone users, are demanding 4G networks, and for Tecno, Infinix and iTel phones to appeal to consumers, the Transion need to up it game, focusing more on 4G LTE enabled smartphones.
That’s Where the Problem Lies;
Well, as it seems, to keep up with these trends, Transion seems to have stepped on the toes of Huawei, conversely leading to the lawsuit against the firm. Huawei is currently under heavy pressures coming from the US government, and to retain it position as the world’s 2nd largest smartphone vendor, the company could do all it can to silence growing competitions either in it home country, the Asian market, or even the African market, which is currently, one of ripped vineyard the company may want to harvest.
We’ll keep our eyes on these underdog verses the champion’s battle between Transion and Huawei, and see how it ends.
Source: caixinglobal.com
