Senator Rubio targets Huawei over patents
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio filed legislation on Monday that would prevent Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from seeking damages in U.S. patent courts, after the Chinese firm demanded that Verizon Communications Inc pay $1 billion to license the rights to patented technology. Under the amendment - seen by Reuters - companies on certain U.S. government watch lists, which would include Huawei, would not be allowed to seek relief under U.S. law with respect to U.S. patents, including bringing legal action over patent infringement. On June 12, a person briefed on the matter said Huawei had told Verizon that it should pay licensing fees for more than 230 of the Chinese telecoms equipment maker’s patents and in aggregate is seeking more than $1 billion. It appeared to be a new strategy in Huawei’s ongoing battle with the U.S. government. National security experts worry that “back doors” in routers, switches and other Huawei equipment could allow China to spy on U.S. communications. Huawei has denied that it would help China spy. ADVERTISEMENT Rubio, one of the Republican party’s leading foreign policy voices, filed the measure as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a massive bill setting policy for spending by the Department of Defense. While the measure is several steps from becoming law, lawmakers have successfully used the NDAA in past years to crack down on the Chinese firm.
译文如下：
华盛顿（路透社）-美国参议员卢比奥（Marco Rubio）周一提出立法，阻止华为技术有限公司（Huawei Technologies Co.，Ltd）在美国专利法院寻求损害赔偿，此前这家中国公司要求Verizon Communications Inc.支付10亿美元许可使用专利技术的权利。
根据路透社所看到的修正案，在某些美国政府观察名单上的公司，包括华为，将不被允许根据美国法律就美国专利寻求救济，包括对专利侵权提起法律诉讼。
6月12日，一位了解此事的人士表示，华为已经告诉Verizon，它应该为这家中国电信设备制造商的230多项专利支付许可费，总计正在寻求超过10亿美元的专利。
这似乎是华为与美国政府正在进行的战斗中的一项新战略。国家安全专家担心，路由器、交换机和华为其他设备的“后门”可能会让中国监视美国的通信。华为否认会帮助中国间谍。
卢比奥是共和党主要的外交政策代表之一，他将这项措施作为国防部年度授权法案（NDAA）的修正案提出，该法案是国防部制定开支政策的一项庞大法案。
虽然这项措施距离成为法律还有几步之遥，但在过去的几年里，立法者们已经成功地利用国家审计署（NDAA）来打击这家中国公司。
本文来源：路透社
