Qualcomm sues Chinese handset-maker in India to defend African market

There's a lot of territory to cover here

Qualcomm has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in India against Chinese smartphone-maker Transsion.

Readers can be excused for not having heard of Transsion, as it doesn't sell phones under its own brand or in the most intensively-Reg-reading nations. But in Africa, its Tecno, Itel, and Infinix brands are well known.

According to analyst firm IDC, the three brands accounted for 28.5 million handset shipments in the first quarter of 2024, which translated to 9.9 percent global market share, and fourth place among all smartphone makers. The manufacturer dipped out of the top five in Q2, but remains a force.

Transsion's brands do well in Africa because it established a hardware support operation to serve the continent – something other handset-makers haven't done.

In June, Qualcomm filed a complaint against Transsion in the High Court of Delhi, India, alleging infringement of patents. Last Friday the court agreed [PDF] to hear the case and gave Transsion time to prepare its defense.

The matter is interesting, because cases against Chinese entities often move very, very, slowly if they're brought in China.

India's legal system is more familiar to Western companies and the nation's government has many reasons to ensure local laws respect intellectual property. For one thing, it's government policy to grow India’s share of the global electronics manufacturing industry and make itself an alternative to Chinese factories – which won't work without strong patent protection.

Suing in India also makes sense because Transsion makes some of its kit in the country, and has agreed to sell a majority share in those manufacturing operations to local contract manufacturer Dixon.

Qualcomm therefore has plenty of pressure points to push as it pursues its patents.

The American chip design firm has fought IP battles with many rivals, but in 2019 settled its dispute with Apple – and has since struck licensing agreements with Huawei and Samsung.

Having a crack at Transsion is a little out of character. But clearly worth the effort. ®