Swedish telecoms kit maker Ericsson has filed suit against mobile maker Samsung in the US for patent infringement. The move follows nearly two years of negotiations to renew a FRAND patent licensing agreement between the pair, according to Ericsson. It’s unclear exactly which patents are involved but Ericsson said they relate to “a crucial system for technology sharing that has helped create today’s mass market communications industry”, adding in a statement
The dispute concerns both Ericsson’s patented technology that is essential to several telecommunications and networking standards used by Samsung’s products as well as other of Ericsson’s patented inventions that are frequently implemented in wireless and consumer electronics products.
The suit has been filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas — the district where Ericsson’s U.S. headquarters are located.
According to Ericsson, senior management teams at the two companies have been negotiating for nearly two years after Samsung’s previous license for the patents expired. It said Samsung previously licensed the patents in 2001 and 2007, but after Ericsson extended an offer to renew the license for a third time Samsung refused to agree to the terms. Ericsson did not provide details of the terms — which are presumably more costly than earlier licensing terms — but did say the FRAND terms are the same terms as Samsung competitors have previously accepted.
“Ericsson has over 30,000 patents and more than 100 license agreements with all major players in the industry. Ericsson has tried long and hard to amicably come to an agreement with Samsung and to sign a license agreement on FRAND terms. We have turned to litigation as a last resort,” said Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson, in a statement.
Ericsson said it has patented hundreds of inventions that are considered standards essential to the communications industry, including patents relating to GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, LTE and 802.11. It claims to have spent $5 billion on research and development in 2011 alone. Reuters reports Ericsson’s IP right net revenues amounted to 6.2 billion Swedish crowns ($938 million) last year.
We’ve reached out to Ericsson and Samsung for comment and will update this story with any response.
