Ericsson Sues Samsung Over Patents

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

28 February 2006

It emerged this week that technology firm Ericsson has filed lawsuits against mobile phone manufacturer Samsung, claiming that the latter is using patented technology in its products for which it no longer has a license.

Speaking to Reuters regarding the lawsuits, which have been filed in Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Ericsson spokeswoman, Ase Lindskog explained that:

"The reason is that we have had extensive negotiations with Samsung over a renewal of licenses because their agreement with us expired on December 31 last year."

The licensing agreement which expired last December reportedly covered GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) technologies.

Observers have suggested that the multi-jurisdictional nature of the dispute is likely to ensure that the proceedings run over several years, especially given the high financial stakes for both parties.

Ericsson, meanwhile, is also embroiled in another patent dispute, albeit on the other side of the fence, as it emerged in November 2005 that Broadcom, Ericsson, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas Instruments have each filed complaints to the European Commission requesting that it investigate and put an end to Qualcomm's allegedly anti-competitive conduct in the licensing of essential patents for 3G mobile technology.

The companies argued that Qualcomm is violating EU competition law and failing to meet the commitments that it made to international standard bodies around the world that it would license its technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. The group went on to state that without this commitment, the WCDMA 3G standard would not have been adopted.

According to the telecoms firms, Qualcomm is infringing these rules by trying to exclude competing manufacturers of chipsets for mobile phones from the market and preventing others from entering, and charging royalties for its WCDMA essential patents that are "excessive and disproportionate".

Kasim Alfalahi, Vice President IPR Licensing and Patent Development at Ericsson suggested that:

"Qualcomm committed to standard setting organizations that it would license its technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. In spite of this and in breach of competition law, Qualcomm is charging excessive and disproportionate royalties. This means ultimately that consumers may have to pay more than they should for their mobile handsets."

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