A Portuguese inventor and entrepreneur is taking one of China’s largest smartphone manufacturers to court and he’s sold his house to do it according to an exclusive published by FStoppers.
Rui Pedro Oliveira developed a 360-degree camera that he allegedly showed off to Huawei back in May 2014.
The 360 camera concept Oliveira had involved attaching the device to a smartphone’s USB port.
After a meeting over two days with a bunch of people at Huawei, Oliveira returned to Portugal and never heard from the company again even though the staff was impressed with his concept.
On to the next one, right? And that’s what Oliveira did but not before seeing Huawei’s EnVizion 360 Camera show up for sale online in 2017. The concept is pretty much the same as Oliveira’s and that’s where the alleged controversy comes into play according to FStoppers.
Oliveira said of the discovery, “Where have I seen this?! This is an exact copy of what I showed them [a] few years before. Not only in the design, that is a fact, but the part of communication with the smartphone that I imagined.”
Since then, Oliveira has sold his house and is taking Huawei head on it seems. Whether or not he has a case is probably for more sophisticated legal minds but the two cameras do look similar for what it is worth.
What’s scary is the idea that a big company could possibly steal a small inventor’s work – even one with a patent pending – and not feel the least bit ashamed at doing so.
Of course, everyone deserves their day in court. The FStoppers’ article’s author Robert K. Baggs even reached out to Huawei but, as of press they haven’t said anything to him.
“I reached out to Huawei to get a response from them in any way, shape, or form; even if they were just to deny the claims, but try as I might, they won't reply.”
