SHANGHAI: A court in the city
dismissed on Friday one of two complaints filed by mobile phone maker Shanghai
DBTEL Industry against Motorola China Electronics for copyright infringement.
The verdict is expected to win Motorola a better position in an ongoing war
between the two companies spanning more than four years.
In 1998, DBTEL, based in Taiwan, began working with Motorola under an OEM
manufacturing contract, which ended in April 2002. Shanghai DBTEL was also
included in the contract.
In January 2000, DBTEL began a project at Motorola's request to improve one
of its products. DBTEL was responsible for the interior design, printed
circuit-board design and mechanical design. The T189, the new product, was
launched in April 2001.
A year later, DBTEL discovered that another product, the C289, produced by
Motorola alone, was similar to the T189 in terms of its printed circuit-board
and exterior look. It sued Motorola in Shanghai, Taiwan and the United States
for copyright infringement.
In Shanghai, DBTEL filed two suits against Motorola China over copyright
infringement of its printed circuit-board and exterior design and sued the store
from which it purchased the C289, demanding nearly 200 million yuan (US$25
million) in compensation.
Before that, Motorola sued DBTEL in Illinois in the United States, demanding
DBTEL pay back US$46 million for handset components it had supplied. Motorola
also sought compensation of US$174 million, as well as the return of its
technical material. It was considered as an official break-up of the two
companies.
In 2003, DBTEL lost the case in Taiwan. The US cases are ongoing, according
to Xu Weiqi, Motorola's attorney.
The Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled on one of the two cases
DBTEL filed in Shanghai on Friday. It rejected all of DBTEL's appeals, including
a demand for a public apology and 99.3 million yuan (US$12 million) in
compensation.
(China Daily 08/26/2006 page2)