ZTE Pressures Ericsson With China Suit — NOT 中兴反诉爱立信

It looks like ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), a former rising star now facing conflicts on several fronts, is finally fighting back in one of those battles by countersuing global rival Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb) in China. (Chinese article) Yes, you heard that right — ZTE is taking its action in Chinese court, after Ericsson sued it for patent infringement in Europe. Please excuse me if I’m not taking this seriously enough, but anyone who expects to get anything from a lawsuit in Chinese court is only fooling himself. Chinese courts are famous for taking years to reach judgments in these matters, often making the final verdicts meaningless as the technology is already outdated when the decision comes. Furthermore, damages are often tiny even when the courts decide for the plaintiffs. A source at ZTE tells me the company hasn’t ruled out suing Ericsson overseas as well. To all of that, my only comment is that ZTE needs to get a bit more sophisticated in its litigation strategy if it really wants to compete with the big boys on the global networking stage.

Bottom line: ZTE’s countersuit in China against Ericsson is a meaningless move that shows its lack of sophistication in doing global business.

中兴通讯(0763.HK: 行情)(000063.SZ: 行情)正在多条阵线面临冲突，但现在似乎终于开始发起反击——它已在中国对爱立信(ERICb.ST: 行情)提出反诉。是的，你没听错，爱立信在欧洲起诉中兴侵犯其专利後，中兴正在中国采取侵权反诉行动。要是我没太把这当回事，请原谅我，但在中国，审理此类诉讼往往耗时数年，从而使最终作出的判决失去任何意义，因为届时相关技术早已过时。此外，即使原告胜诉，法院判决的赔偿额通常也微不足道。中兴公司的一位消息人士告诉我，该公司并未排除在海外起诉爱立信的可能。总之，我的唯一评论是，中兴若真想与行业巨头在全球通讯网络市场竞争，就需要在司法策略方面多下点功夫。

一句话：中兴在华起诉爱立信之举毫无意义，只表明它在开展全球业务时还显得十分稚嫩。

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