Inventor Says Huawei Stole His Camera Patent, Sells House to Pay Lawyer
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Screenshot of HUAWEI's EnVizion 360 Camera
A Portuguese inventor says Huawei executives flew him to a meeting where he pitched the technology giant his patent pending 360 degree camera back in 2014. He never heard back. Now, he claims the company stole his idea.
Oliveira's Side of the Story
On May 28th 2014, Oliviera says he flew from Portugal to the Huawei headquarters in the United States to pitch his patent pending smartphone attachable camera to executives.
Photo by Kamil Kot on Unsplash
The meeting, Oliveira says, went extremely well. He met with Jeff Xu (chief architect), Eric Murrell (ex-VP of fixed wireless broadband), Erica Porter (ex-director of business and partnership development) and Michael Guo (whom we could not find on LinkedIn).
He was asked to come back the next day and pitch his idea to more individuals within the company.
"People from Huawei showed interest in knowing too much about my invention, but after the two meetings they never talked with me anymore," Oliveira says.
Oliviera, while being interviewed exclusively by FStoppers about his story, showed an FStoppers journalist the business cards of all of the executives at the first meeting.
The journalist, for reasons of privacy, chose not to share this photo.
His Patent Application
Oliveira first submitted a patent application in 2013. We have obtained photographs from said patent application.
Photos from Oliveira's patent application
So, obviously the patent was submitted prior to Oliveira's supposed meeting at Huawei headquarters. This leaves Oliveira in a tight position, however, because when he accused the company of theft, he says he was told he couldn't continue the conversation without legal representation.
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"I started talking with them, the director of legal affairs in the USA, Mrs. K D Schull and Mr. Chenlu," Oliveira says. "After several emails, he (said) that (he) can't talk to me anymore because I don't have an American attorney."
The Lawsuit
After speaking with his wife, Oliveira decided to sell his family's home in order to fund a lawsuit.
Oliveira says he hired Mr. George Neuner, a patent attorney, to represent his case in September of 2018.
He now claims the international technology company is running down the clock until Oliveira can no longer afford Neuner's council.
Over the following five months, Oliveira says there is always an issue. Something is always missing, or someone is always on a business trip, Oliveira says.
Huawei's Refusal To Speak With Media
FStoppers, one of the only media companies covering the story, reached out to Huawei to try and receive a quote for their piece on the alleged stolen patent.
They have yet to respond.
Given the current state of Huawei's business in the US, it makes sense the media company is more focused on larger cases.
US security experts have warned against using Huawei products for months now, claiming the information is helping the Chinese government to spy on US citizens.
Now, Huawei is suing the US government over their federal ban on their products.
However, this leaves Oliveira, his wife, and their daughter without a home or what Oliveira believes should have been one of the greatest paychecks of his life.
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Via FStoppers
