Asus is taking legal action against Samsung, suing the latter for infringing its wireless communication patent (U.S. Patent No. 10,187,878) in a court in the Eastern District of Texas. The patent is described as “a method and device for improving transmission using configuration resources in a wireless communication system”, covering 4G and 5G smartphones. It is rumored that Asus contacted Samsung as early as a year and a half ago, asking the latter to pay for the use of its patented technology, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

Asus actually entered the mobile phone field very early, dating back to 2003, but never became a major leader in the industry. According to statistics, Asus’s ROG brand and Zenfone series product lines are expected to sell only about 600,000 units in 2023, in stark contrast to Samsung, which sold more than 260 million smartphones in 2022. Although there is a huge gap in market size between the two, Asus still decided to launch a legal challenge against Samsung, which also highlights its confidence in its own patented technology.

The trouble is that such lawsuits involving standard patents generally take several years, even if the court finally rules that Samsung should pay Asus related fees, it is a drop in the bucket for the revenue of Asus’s smartphone business, and does not help much. On the other hand, the two sides may also negotiate a cross-licensing agreement in the future, but this process may also take several years.