Inhofe, Wicker Urge Trump to Address Chinese Makers' Failure to Pay IP Licensing Fees

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote President Donald Trump Wednesday about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers' “ongoing refusal to pay lawfully owed licensing fees to U.S. developers of standards-based wireless technology.” Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, neither of which is identified in the letter, are under FCC and Capitol Hill scrutiny (see 1909270063). A draft FCC proposal would bar USF funding for the purchase of telecom equipment from companies “posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain.” The order is seen as targeted at Huawei and ZTE (see 1910300036). Inhofe and Wicker urged Trump to address “this flagrant and willful decision by Chinese companies to ignore the intellectual property rights of the U.S.” and other countries “as a part of your ongoing trade negotiations with China.” The Chinese manufacturers' decision not to “adhere to” licensing laws “not only undermines faith in a world-recognized system of license fee payments, it also exposes the ambition of certain Chinese companies to unfairly seek an advantage over other law-abiding companies,” Inhofe and Wicker said. “We must change the ability of Chinese companies to access the U.S. market while simultaneously eroding the ability of the U.S. and other Western market-based companies to maintain their leading role in the research and development of advanced wireless technology.” The White House didn't comment.