Global Two-Way Radio Communications Provider Hytera Sues Motorola Solutions for Patent Infringement

Shenzhen, China-based Hytera Communications Corporation Limited, the world's leading provider of innovative professional mobile radio (PMR) solutions, today filed a lawsuit against Chicago, Ill.-based Motorola Solutions, Inc. in federal district court in Cleveland, Ohio, charging that Motorola Solutions is infringing Hytera's U.S. Patent No. 9,183,846, which covers its industry-leading sound adjustment control technology.

Hytera's '846 patent is its inventive method for adjusting sound volume in response to background or ambient noise, allowing a radio operator to hear and speak over it. The device obtains the current level of ambient noise, receives an instruction, and adjusts sound output. If ambient noise is high, the volume adjustment is greater at higher (treble) frequencies. Hytera's complaint asserts that Motorola Solutions unlawfully misappropriates Hytera’s patented technology for sound adjustment, incorporating it into its MOTOTRBO portable radios.

"Hytera has changed the landscape of the PMR business with its constant innovations, especially after its launch of a digital product line in 2010," said Tom Wineland, Director of Sales for Hytera Communications America (West), Inc. in Irvine, Calif. "Our patented sound adjustment functionality is one of the many innovations that Hytera has incorporated into our digital products, and users in markets around the world have embraced this feature."

Hytera's two-way radio communications equipment includes hand portables, mobiles, base stations, and dispatching and management software. Its products and solutions are used by commercial industries, such as energy companies and utilities, event organizers and producers, security and emergency management response teams, schools and other educational institutions, and public safety organizations. During use, personnel using Hytera's devices frequently move from quiet environments with little background noise to loud environments where machinery, engines, crowd noise, sirens, or other noises make it difficult to hear.

As embodied in the '846 patent, Hytera's sound adjustment capability is a key technological advance in PMR speaker design that is critical in a variety of noisy situations. "Our users—police and emergency responders, stadium and event managers, and commercial users—benefit greatly from this capability in our devices," adds Wineland.

"Motorola Solutions is infringing Hytera's sound adjustment control patent," said Andrew Yuan, Hytera's President of North and South America. "Hytera is a leader in innovative technologies, and an adamant advocate of intellectual property rights. We will look to enforce our patents in court in the U.S. and worldwide."

Hytera invests up to 15 percent of annual revenue in research and development, notes Yuan, including in open standard technologies, and is continually developing customized solutions that couple versatile LTE broadband for video and data transmission with traditional PMR narrow-band two-way voice communications. Hytera is one of the few companies worldwide that offers market-leading TETRA, DMR, and PDT technologies, and that offers products and solutions under all mainstream digital protocols. Hytera currently holds 480 issued patents, including 269 patents for digital products (DMR, TETRA, and PDT).

Hytera is the second-largest professional mobile radio communications solutions provider in the world, and the world’s fastest-growing. Hytera also is the world’s #1 DMR trunking provider. Hytera has partnered with companies in the U.S. since 2000, and established its first U.S. subsidiary, Hytera America, Inc., in 2004. Hytera established Hytera Communications America (West), Inc., in 2016 and opened research and equipment servicing facilities in the Chicago area this year.

Hytera further claims that Motorola has been and still is indirectly infringing Hytera's ‘846 Patent by actively inducing direct infringement by other persons who use products that embody one or more of the claims of the patent while Motorola had knowledge of the patent, knew or should have known that its actions would induce direct infringement by others, and intended that its actions would induce such direct infringement. Hytera is also alleging contributory infringement. Hytera is seeking damages and will pursue further relief as appropriate.

Hytera filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, in Cleveland, Ohio. The patent-at-issue is U.S. Patent No. 9,183,846 (“the ‘846 Patent”) titled “Method and Device for Adaptively Adjusting Sound Effect.” Hytera is represented in this action by Todd Tucker of Cleveland, Ohio-based law firm Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP.

About Hytera Communications Corporation Limited

Founded in Shenzhen, China in 1993, Hytera Communications Corporation Limited is a closely-held privately-run company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (002583.SZ). With ten research and development centers around the world, Hytera is a leading global provider of innovative professional mobile radio (PMR) communications solutions to governmental organizations, public security institutions, and customers from other industries including transportation, oil and gas, and many others. Hytera aspires to leverage its technologies to improve organizational efficiency and make the world safer. Hytera's headquarters are at Hytera Tower, Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park North, Beihuan RD. 9108 Nanshan District, Shenzhen, P.R.C. In the U.S., the company has operations in Miramar, Fla., Irvine, Calif., and Chicago, Ill. More information is at www.hytera.com.

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Hytera Communications Corporation Limited
Johnny Jian
johnny.jian@hytera.com