Huawei Technologies has filed lawsuits against Samsung Electronics over alleged patent infringements, demanding compensation as high as 80 million yuan ($11.95 million). The Chinese tech company, which emerges as the world's third largest smartphone vendor, confirmed that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung in two courts in China.

"Huawei is looking for legal protection for its property rights and for a "reasonable" compensation," the company said in a statement.

qq.com, a news portal owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd, reported on Wednesday the Quanzhou intermediate people's court had recently accepted Huawei's case and Samsung was asked to provide 80 million yuan ($11.95 million) as compensation.

Huawei said the second case was filed with the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, but declined to provide details.

According to a local media report, the dispute involves 16 types of handsets from Samsung, which Huawei argues infringe its patents in telecommunication technologies.