Beijing court rules against Sony China for patent infringement

BEIJING - A Beijing court on Wednesday ruled that Sony Mobile Communications (China) had infringed the patent of a Chinese Internet company and should pay over 9.1 million yuan ($1.3 million) for the latter's losses.

The lawsuit, filed in 2015 by Xidian Jietong, a wireless network communications company in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an, accused Sony of infringing its copyright of WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI).

Beijing Intellectual Property Court (BIPC) ruled against Sony and told the company to compensate Xidian Jietong for economic losses and stop production and sales of mobile phones equipped with the technology.

About 35 models of Sony phones including L39h (Xperia Z1) and L50T (Xperia Z2) are using the technology.

All mobile devices have been required to conduct WAPI function tests before they get access to the internet on the Chinese mainland since 2003. Xidian Jietong obtained the patent in 2005.

The negotiations on the patent infringement between the two companies failed in 2009.