South Korean top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is likely to file a countersuit against Huawei Technologies Co. with a U.S. court in July, industry watchers here said Friday, after the Chinese company launched lawsuits claiming Samsung's infringement of its patents.

Earlier this week, Huawei brought two suits against the world's top smartphone maker with a U.S. federal court in California and the Chinese city of Shenzhen, seeking financial compensation for the alleged unlicensed use of 4G technology.


Industry watchers forecast that Samsung will take the counteraction sometime as early as July, since it usually takes at least two months to review a complaint in patent infringement battles.

"A Samsung-Huawei suit is likely to proceed slowly as the two sides are likely to pursue negotiations outside of the court after judging several circumstances," an industry watcher said.

Huawei, the world's third-largest smartphone maker, claimed Samsung and its affiliates gained huge profits by using the firm's technology without its permission.

Industry watchers further forecast that this will take a different course than an earlier patent battle between Samsung and its U.S. rival Apple Inc.

Samsung filed a countersuit against Apple in April 21, 2011, just four days after Apple first launched a patent infringement suit with the U.S. federal court of the Northern District of California. Soon, Samsung filed multiple suits in different countries, including South Korea, Japan and Germany.

"It will be very different from a Samsung-Apple suit, which was very spectacle," the watcher said.

Experts further forecast that there is very slim chance that Samsung may take legal action here or in other countries since more than half of Huawei phones are sold in the Chinese market.

The latest lawsuit highlights the rise of Asian competitors as technology creators and possible patent wars between tech firms.

Samsung sold 81.18 million smartphone units around the globe in the first quarter of this year, taking up 23.2 percent of the total, followed by Apple with 14.8 percent and Huawei with 8.3 percent. (Yonhap)