U.S. Patent Firm Execs In China, Fearing Arrest, Duck Meeting With Officials

Executives from the patent holding firm InterDigital will not attend a Wednesday meeting with Chinese antitrust authorities because the company fears they will be arrested if they show up. In a statement, InterDigital Chief Executive William Merritt said the company has been cooperating with the investigation up to this point, but would not put its executives’ safety at risk. An InterDigital attorney reportedly had told the company that the Chinese antitrust agency had told him that arrest or detention of the executives was a possibility. InterDigital has alleged infringement against a number of Chinese companies. In the U.S., the company is a member of an alliance of patent holders that is opposing proposed patent troll litigation.