(Yicai Global) March 10 -- Oppo Mobile Telecommunications and Sharp, major Chinese and Japanese smartphone makers, have found another intellectual property fight to pick in a series of lawsuits. 

Oppo stands against unreasonable negotiation tactics such as excessively high pricing and reserves the right to defend its legitimate rights and interests through legal means, the Dongguan-based firm said in a statement yesterday.

Sharp had filed patent infringement lawsuits against the Chinese company in Tokyo and Germany, claiming that the latter had stolen several fourth-generation wireless communications technologies, the Osaka-headquartered firm said in a statement on March 6.

Oppo said that it respects its own and third-party IP rights as it has in-depth patent licensing cooperation with global industry leaders such as Qualcomm, Nokia, and Ericsson under its belt. By the end of last month, the company had more than 16,000 global invention patents, ranking third among Chinese firms.

In January, Sharp sued Oppo in Tokyo for alleged violations regarding wireless local area network technologies. After that, Oppo blamed the peer for unfair treatment in licensing negotiations, filing a lawsuit in Shenzhen. It pursued another about its flash-charging technology in Tokyo.

Both of the companies have been ranked as No. 2s on their home turfs. In the fourth quarter of last year, Oppo trailed China's Huawei Technologies in phone shipments with a 16.4 percent market share, according to Canalys. In the second quarter of 2019, Sharp was second to Apple in Japan with a 15.5 percent market share, according to IDC.

Editor: Emmi Laine