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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

WACO DIVISION

WSOU INVESTMENTS, LLC d/b/a 

BRAZOS LICENSING AND 

DEVELOPMENT,

Plaintiff,

v.

ZTE CORPORATION, ZTE (USA) 

INC., AND ZTE (TX), INC. 

Defendants.

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CIVIL ACTION NO. 6:20-cv-493-ADA

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR PATENT 

INFRINGEMENT

Plaintiff WSOU Investments, LLC d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development (“Brazos” 

or “Plaintiff”), by and through its attorneys, files this First Amended Complaint for Patent 

Infringement (“Complaint”) against Defendants ZTE Corporation, ZTE (USA), Inc. and ZTE 

(TX), Inc. (collectively “ZTE” or “Defendants”) and alleges:

NATURE OF THE ACTION

1. This is a civil action for patent infringement arising under the Patent Laws of the 

United States, 35 U.S.C. §§ 1, et seq., including §§ 271, 281, 284, and 285.

THE PARTIES

2. Brazos is a limited liability corporation organized and existing under the laws of 

Delaware, with its principal place of business at 605 Austin Ave, Ste 6, Waco, TX 76701.

3. On information and belief, Defendant Zhongxing Telecommunications 

Equipment (abbreviated as “ZTE”) Corporation (“ZTE Corp.”) is a Chinese corporation that 

does business in Texas, directly or through intermediaries, with a principal place of business at 

ZTE Plaza, Keji Road South, Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Nanshan District, Shenzhen China.

Case 6:20-cv-00493-ADA Document 35 Filed 11/06/20 Page 1 of 16
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4. On information and belief, Defendant ZTE (USA) Inc. is a New Jersey 

corporation that does business in Texas, directly or through intermediaries, with a principal place 

of business in business in Richardson, Texas.

5. On information and belief, Defendant ZTE (TX) Inc. is a Texas corporation that 

does business in Texas, directly or through intermediaries, with a principal place of business in 

business in Austin, Texas.

6. All of the Defendants operate under and identify with the trade name “ZTE.” 

Each of the Defendants may be referred to individually as a “ZTE Defendant” and, collectively, 

Defendants may be referred to below as “ZTE” or as the “ZTE Defendants.”

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

7. This is an action for patent infringement which arises under the Patent Laws of 

the United States, in particular, 35 U.S.C. §§271, 281, 284, and 285.

8. This Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action under 28 U.S.C.

§§ 1331 and 1338(a).

9. This Court has specific and general personal jurisdiction over each ZTE

Defendant pursuant to due process and/or the Texas Long Arm Statute, because each ZTE

Defendant has committed acts giving rise to this action within Texas and within this judicial 

district. The Court’s exercise of jurisdiction over each ZTE Defendant would not offend 

traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice because ZTE has established minimum 

contacts with the forum. For example, on information and belief, ZTE Defendants have 

committed acts of infringement in this judicial district, by among other things, selling and 

offering for sale products that infringe the asserted patent, directly or through intermediaries, as 

alleged herein.

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10. Jurisdiction is also proper because ZTE Defendants place goods and/or services, 

including Accused Products, into the stream of commerce knowing they will end up in Texas. 

Indeed, ZTE Defendants take actions purposefully directed toward Texas to place goods and/or 

services into the stream of commerce here. 

11. On information and belief, ZTE Corp. sells and/or licenses Accused Products 

directly to a company headquartered in Richardson, Texas—ZTE (USA) Inc.—and ships them 

to that company’s headquarters in Richardson, Texas.

12. On Information and belief, ZTE Corp. targets other Texas customers through ZTE 

(USA) Inc.’s website and ships Accused Products to customers in Texas. 

13. ZTE Corp. specifically targets Accused Products at individuals and companies in 

Texas at least by selling and/or licensing Accused Products directly to ZTE (USA) Inc., a 

consumer and distributor of Accused Products manufactured by ZTE Corp., and by shipping 

Accused Products to ZTE (USA) Inc. for distribution in Texas. 

14. On information and belief, ZTE Corp. assists ZTE (USA) Inc. with 

troubleshooting or other technical support of ZTE Corp. equipment sold in the United States, 

including Texas. 

15. Both ZTE Corp. and ZTE (USA) Inc. have issued releases from Richardson, 

Texas marketing ZTE products, including Accused Products. These releases are hosted on ZTE 

Corp.’s website and include a “ZTE Corporation” copyright.

16. On November 20, 2019, ZTE (USA) Inc. issued a release from “RICHARDSON, 

Texas” advertising Black Friday Deals on several products, including Blade 10 and Axon 10 

Pro. The release explains that “ZTE USA” is “headquartered in Richardson, Texas,” provides 

information to directly contact ZTE (USA) Inc. and indicates that “shoppers can enjoy free 

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shipping and easy 30 day returns for ZTE products at www.zteusa.com. The release is hosted 

on ZTE Corp.’s website and includes a “ZTE Corporation” copyright. 

17. On October 15, 2019, ZTE Corp. issued a release from “RICHARDSON, Texas” 

announcing that Blade Vantage 2 would be available in “Verizon stores across the U.S.” and 

would “operate on Verizon’s national network.” 

18. On information and belief, most imports from ZTE Corp. to the United States are 

shipments to ZTE (USA) Inc. 

19. On information and belief, most imports received by ZTE (USA) Inc. are imports 

from ZTE Corp. 

20. On information and belief, ZTE Corp. regularly ships goods to ZTE (USA) Inc.’s 

headquarters at 2425 N Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas. 

21. On information and belief, ZTE Corp. regularly ships goods to other addresses in 

Texas.

22. Venue in the Western District of Texas is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§1391

and/or 1400(b). The ZTE Defendants have committed acts of infringement and have places of 

businesses in this District and/or are foreign entities for purpose of §1391. As non-limiting 

examples, ZTE (TX) has maintained a place of business at 7000 N MO-PAC EXPRESSWAY 

200 AUSTIN, TX 7873; and, ZTE (USA) has maintained a place of business at 6500 River Place 

Blvd., Austin, TX 78730. ZTE Corporation also describes a “research-and-development center 

in Austin, Texas.”1

1 https://res-www.zte.com.cn/mediares/magazine/publication/tech_en/pdf/201009.pdf

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COUNT ONE - INFRINGEMENT OF 

U.S. PATENT NO. 9,294,060

23. Brazos re-alleges and incorporates by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint.

24. On March 22, 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and 

legally issued U.S. Patent No. 9,294,060 (“the ’060 Patent”), entitled “BANDWIDTH 

EXTENDER.” A true and correct copy of the ’060 Patent is attached as Exhibit A to this 

Complaint.

25. Brazos is the owner of all rights, title, and interest in and to the ’060 Patent, 

including the right to assert all causes of action arising under the ’060 Patent and the right to any 

remedies for the infringement of the ’060 Patent.

26. ZTE makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, imports, and/or distributes, in the United 

States, communication products including an Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) codec to provide 

HD voice+ or ultra HD audio (collectively, the “Accused Products”).

27. EVS is a 3GPP conversational codec offering up to 20 kHz audio bandwidth, 

delivering speech quality that matches other audio input such as stored music, while offering 

high robustness to delay jitter and packet losses.

28. The Accused Products include Axon 10 Pro, Axon M, and Axon 7 phones and 

and any ZTE products including the Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE Modem, the Qualcomm 

Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Modem, or the Qualcomm 

Snapdragon X24 LTE Modem (having the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform).

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https://www.zteusa.com/axon-10-pro.html.

https://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon/modems/comparison. 

https://www.3gpp.org/news-events/1639-evs_news. 

29. In audio processing, e.g., audio coding, “excitation-based” models can generate 

speech. In the EVS codec, processing can include a multi-rate audio codec, a source controlled 

variable bit-rate (SC-VBR) scheme, a voice/sound activity detector (VAD), a comfort noise 

Case 6:20-cv-00493-ADA Document 35 Filed 11/06/20 Page 6 of 16
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generation (CNG) system, and an error concealment (EC) mechanism to neutralize the 

detrimental effects of transmission errors resulting in lost packets. 

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 21).

30. The signal resampling block within an EVS encoder corrects mismatches 

between the sampling frequency and the signal bandwidth command line parameter that is 

specified on the command line or through a file containing a bandwidth switching profile. The 

signal analysis determines which of three possible encoder strategies to employ: LP (Linear 

Prediction) based coding (ACELP), frequency domain encoding and inactive coding/Comfort 

Noise Generator (CNG). 

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https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 22).

31. In the EVS Codec, the CNG algorithm reproduces high-quality comfort noise by 

choosing between a linear prediction-domain based coding mode (LP-CNG) and a frequencydomain based coding mode (FD-CNG), according to the input characteristics. In the FD-CNG 

mode, the Comfort Noise (CN) parameters consisting of global gain and spectral energies 

grouped in critical bands. In the LP-CNG mode, four CN parameters are analyzed and encoded: 

the low-band excitation energy, the low-band signal spectrum, the low-band excitation envelope, 

and the high-band energy, where the high-band energy is only encoded for SWB/FB input.

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 425).

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32. The excitation energy in the current frame (i.e, audio signal) is computed for each 

inactive frame.

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 432).

33. An audio signal can consist of active and inactive periods. When the codec is 

operated with the DTX (Discontinuous Transmission)/CNG operation, the signal activity 

detector (SAD) is used to analyze the audio input signal to determine whether the signal 

comprises an active or inactive signal. The reduction of the transmission rate during inactive 

periods is achieved by coding the parameters referred to as comfort noise (CN) parameters. Thus 

at least the CN parameter has time components. DTX functions run at the encoder that transmits 

either a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame or a NO_DATA frame. The SID frame contains 

the comfort noise (CN) parameters, which are used to update the statistics of the background 

noise at the decode. 

34. The low-frequency spectral envelope of the LP residual is not quantized directly. 

Instead, an averaged spectral envelope is calculated over the CN averaging period. The spectral 

envelopes of the two outliers identified are removed from the averaging. To encode this averaged 

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low-frequency spectral envelope, the spectral details of the averaged low-frequency spectral 

envelope is extracted and used for actual quantization. 

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 433).

35. The distance vector D(k) is quantized by vector quantization. A codeword having 

a minimum prediction error is found by a direct search in the codebook and the index of the 

codeword is transmitted in the WB SID frame. The quantized low-frequency envelope is

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recovered and used in the local CNG synthesis. 

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 434).

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https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 597). 

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 628).

36. In the LP-CNG mode, excitation(s) and synthesis filter(s) are calculated from the 

decoded CN parameters, and the comfort noise is synthesized by an LP synthesis approach. The 

excitation representing the low-frequency spectral details of the excitation signal is generated 

from the quantized residual spectral envelope. 

37. FFT is used to obtain the frequency representation of the LP residual signal and 

a spectral envelope which is the energies of the first 20 FFT bins in the low-frequency portion 

of the frequency representation. To compensate for the missing low-frequency component, the 

spectral envelope in the low-frequency portion of the LP residual signal is quantized and 

transmitted in the SID frame.

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https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 432).

https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 433).

Case 6:20-cv-00493-ADA Document 35 Filed 11/06/20 Page 13 of 16
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https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/126400_126499/126445/15.02.00_60/ts_126445v150200p.

pdf (Page 434).

38. In view of preceding paragraphs, each and every element of at least claim 1 of the 

’060 Patent is found in the Accused Products.

39. ZTE has and continues to directly infringe at least one claim of the ’060 Patent, 

literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, by making, using, selling, offering for sale, 

importing, and/or distributing the Accused Products in the United States, including within this 

judicial district, without the authority of Brazos.

40. ZTE has received notice and actual or constructive knowledge of the ’060 Patent 

since at least the date of service of this Complaint.

41. Since at least the date of service of this Complaint, through its actions, ZTE has 

actively induced product makers, distributors, retailers, and/or end users of the Accused Products 

Case 6:20-cv-00493-ADA Document 35 Filed 11/06/20 Page 14 of 16
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to infringe the ’060 Patent throughout the United States, including within this judicial district, 

by, among other things, advertising and promoting the use of the Accused Products in various 

websites, including providing and disseminating product descriptions, operating manuals, and 

other instructions on how to implement and configure the Accused Products. Examples of such 

advertising, promoting, and/or instructing include the documents at:

• https://www.zteusa.com/axon-10-pro.html

42. Since at least the date of service of this Complaint, through its actions, ZTE has 

contributed to the infringement of the ’060 Patent by having others sell, offer for sale, or use the 

Accused Products throughout the United States, including within this judicial district, with

knowledge that the Accused Products infringe the ’060 Patent. The Accused Products are 

especially made or adapted for infringing the ’060 Patent and have no substantial non-infringing 

use. For example, in view of the preceding paragraphs, the Accused Products contain 

functionality which is material to at least one claim of the ’060 Patent.

JURY DEMAND

Brazos hereby demands a jury on all issues so triable.

REQUEST FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Brazos respectfully requests that the Court:

(A) Enter judgment that ZTE infringes one or more claims of the ’060 Patent literally 

and/or under the doctrine of equivalents;

(B) Enter judgment that ZTE has induced infringement and continues to induce 

infringement of one or more claims of the ’060 Patent;

(C) Enter judgment that ZTE has contributed to and continues to contribute to the 

infringement of one or more claims of the ’060 Patent;

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(D) Award Brazos damages, to be paid by ZTE in an amount adequate to compensate 

Brazos for such damages, together with pre-judgment and post-judgment interest for the 

infringement by ZTE of the ’060 Patent through the date such judgment is entered in accordance 

with 35 U.S.C. §284, and increase such award by up to three times the amount found or assessed 

in accordance with 35 U.S.C. §284;

(E) Declare this case exceptional pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §285; and

(F) Award Brazos its costs, disbursements, attorneys’ fees, and such further and 

additional relief as is deemed appropriate by this Court.

Dated: November 6, 2020 Respectfully submitted,

/s/ James L. Etheridge

James L. Etheridge

Texas State Bar No. 24059147 

Ryan S. Loveless

Texas State Bar No. 24036997 

Travis L. Richins

Texas State Bar No. 24061296

ETHERIDGE LAW GROUP, PLLC

2600 E. Southlake Blvd., Suite 120 / 324

Southlake, Texas 76092

Telephone: (817) 470-7249

Facsimile: (817) 887-5950

Jim@EtheridgeLaw.com

Ryan@EtheridgeLaw.com

Travis@EtheridgeLaw.com

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF

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