Taiwan-based smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision Co. has sued Motorola Mobility LLC for patent infringement, the Apple supplier said Monday.

Largan said it has filed a lawsuit with a court in Northern District of California, accusing Motorola Mobility, which is under the corporate umbrella of China’s Lenovo Group, of infringing on six patents related to 5G smartphone camera lens production.

While Largan did not elaborate on its claims, the company reiterated its determination to safeguard its intellectual property rights through legal action.

Local media reported Monday that the lawsuit involved patents for super wide angle lenses infringed upon by the front and rear camera lenses used by Motorola Mobility in its One 5G Ace model.

Motorola Mobility, a spinoff of Motorola Inc., was first sold in 2011 to Google Inc., which then sold the mobile phone assets to Lenovo in 2014.

Motorola Mobility was the third largest smartphone vendor in the U.S. in the first nine months of this year with a market share of 8 percent, behind Apple’s 43 percent and Samsung Electronics Corp.’s 35 percent.

Largan has resorted to legal action to protect its IPRs in the past.

In 2013, Largan sued Taiwanese rival Genius Electronic Optical Co. in a court in the United States for infringing on five patents involving smartphone camera lenses, and sued Samsung, also in a U.S. court, for stealing six smartphone camera lens patents.

In 2019, Largan turned its attention to the notebook computer market by suing HP and Taiwanese camera lens makers Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co. and Newmax Technology Co. in a U.S. court, accusing them of infringing on four of its patents.

Those IPR disputes were all settled with royalties received by Largan. As for the lawsuit against Samsung, Largan secured large orders from the South Korean company through a settlement agreement.

Analysts said the lawsuit brought against Motorola Mobility by Largan aimed to fend off competition from the so-called “red supply chain” in China as it tries to expand its market share in that market.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel