Once upon a time, big tech companies assiduously avoided patent lawsuits. The possibility of "mutually assured destruction" that would come from an endless cycle of suit and countersuit scared them too much.

But several years ago, that fear faded away. In the wake of cases like Apple v. Samsung, massive legal bills have sometimes become worth paying in order to gain an edge over a competitor.

A fast-growing fight between Samsung and Huawei suggests that the next generation of patent disputes won't be limited to the US and Europe. China-based Huawei, the third-largest seller of smartphones, sued Samsung this year in both US and Chinese courts.

Now, Samsung has filed the predictable countersuit—notably, in a Beijing intellectual property court. The company is claiming $24 million in damages, according to a Bloomberg report on the new filing.

"Despite our best efforts to resolve this matter amicably, it has regrettably become necessary to take legal action in order to defend our intellectual property,” a Samsung spokesperson said.

The Beijing lawsuit accuses Huawei's Mate 8, Honor, and other smartphones and tablets of infringing Samsung patents. Those patents cover wireless communications, digital cameras, and other forms of technology, according to the court, which gave details of the dispute through a Weibo microblog account.

Huawei also filed suit against T-Mobile earlier this year, using the popular Eastern District of Texas as its chosen venue. The Chinese company detailed its ambitions to become the world's number one smartphone company in a conference last month.

Huawei and Samsung are the top two makers of Android smartphones. In the first quarter of this year, Huawei made up about 8.3 percent of the smartphone market, while Samsung's market share dropped to 23.2 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal.