Fiber-optic broadband cables/photo by Shutterstock

Shortly after filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Huawei, mobile technology research company InterDigital Inc. announced Monday its deputy general counsel will become the company's chief legal officer.

Richard Gulino, who has served as deputy general counsel since September, will replace Jannie Lau, who is retiring. Gulino will begin his new role as chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary Jan. 1. He is based at the company's Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters.

Gulino said his main goal is to improve efficiency within the legal department.

"We are always looking to be more efficient for the in-house team," Gulino said. "I think we will be leaving things much the way they are. I'll be using the coming days and weeks to see of any changes we might need to make in conjunction with Jannie."

Before coming to InterDigital, Gulino worked as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Washington, D.C. According to his LinkedIn profile, Gulino also held in-house roles at Ameritox Ltd., Cephalon Inc. and AstraZeneca. After graduating from Duke University School of Law, Gulino started his legal career as an associate at Dow Lohnes.

InterDigital announced Gulino's promotion just five days after it filed a lawsuit in the U.K. against the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. The patent infringement suit in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales is seeking a determination of fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, known as FRAND, for a license to InterDigital's portfolio of 3G, 4G and 5G standards-essential patents.

Gulino declined to comment on the suit and referred Corporate Counsel to the public statement InterDigital's CEO, William Merritt, made last week when the suit was filed.

"We're hopeful that Huawei will choose to resolve this situation through arbitration or negotiation, rather than holding out or through litigation in a favorable court, especially given the significant history of negotiation and arbitration involving the two companies. In bringing this claim in the UK High Court of Justice—which is a purely neutral venue and has a history of examining standards-essential patent issues—we're hopeful for a speedy resolution and a fair license," Merritt said in the statement.

This is not the first time InterDigital and Huawei have become involved in a legal dispute. In January, Huawei accused InterDigital of violating an agreement to license patents necessary to use 3G, 4G and 5G networks. At the time, Merritt told Corporate Counsel he hoped the claims could be settled out of court.