Top people from various American tech companies have been invited to the White House to discuss the ban on trade with the Chinese company Huawei. That puts two sources who are aware of the meeting opposite Reuters.
The meeting is organized by economic advisor Larry Kudlow of the White House. Minister of Finance Steven Mnuchin is also present. Top people from Intel and Qualcomm are invited. Furthermore, Microsoft can receive an invitation, as well as Broadcom. An official from the White House has confirmed that the meeting is taking place and states that Google and Micron are present. According to the official, however, the meeting is about economic issues.
Huawei will probably be discussed, but that is not the reason why they are holding the meeting, according to the official, who wanted to remain anonymous.
Black list
The Chinese manufacturer Huawei has been on a so-called Entity List since May. This means that American companies are not allowed to trade with the manufacturer unless they are granted an exemption licence for this. However, these licences are hardly ever issued. Earlier this month, the ban was slightly relaxed. Companies can now obtain a licence to trade with the manufacturer, provided that there is no threat to national security. This relaxation followed after President Trump said that American companies should be able to sell their equipment to Huawei. Kudlow emphasized in the relaxation that the licensing requirements are only temporarily less strict. Mnuchin would strongly motivate American companies to submit a licensing proposal.
Prohibition of patent sales
In the meantime, however, there is talk of a new ban on Huawei. The U.S. Senate is working on a bill prohibiting the manufacturer from buying or selling patents. An exclusive licence to a patent is no longer allowed. Huawei has been trying to force Verizon Communications to pay licence fees for more than two hundred patents since it was blacklisted. The company would also threaten to increase royalties for US companies that depend on patents. If the bill is adopted, the government will be able to intervene in domestic patent infringement cases. This is only possible if a blacklisted company is involved, which is the case with Huawei.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
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