“Ericsson, the world’s biggest telecom network equipment maker, said it was suing Samsung Electronics Co for patent infringement after two years of talks failed to yield a license agreement,” Anna Ringstrom reports for Reuters. “The Ericsson dispute concerns patented technology the Swedish firm says is essential to several telecommunications and networking standards used by Samsung’s products as well as other patented inventions that are frequently implemented in wireless and consumer electronics products, the company said… Samsung said it will ‘take all necessary legal measures to protect against Ericsson’s excessive claims.'”
“Sweden’s Ericsson, which reckons more than 40 percent of the world’s mobile traffic passes through its networks, filed a lawsuit in the United States saying Samsung had refused to sign a license to use technology on terms it referred to as fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND),” Ringstrom reports. “Samsung is also embroiled in a legal war with Apple in more than 20 disputes in 10 countries, with Apple alleging various Samsung smartphone and tablet products infringed its patents. ‘Ericsson now has plenty of material from Samsung’s litigations with Apple to quote in support of high FRAND royalty rates and sales bans,’ said Florian Mueller, blogger and patent expert who has advised Microsoft and Oracle in the past.”
Ringstrom reports, “FRAND licensing terms are used for patents and technologies that have become essential, often as an industry standard. Ericsson says its FRAND licensing aims to give companies the incentive to contribute technology to open standards and still maintain royalty rates at a reasonable level.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Samsung claiming FRAND abuse is pure hypocrisy.
Related articles:
FTC staff said to formally recommend antitrust lawsuit against Google over FRAND abuse – November 1, 2012
U.S. FTC investigating Google, Motorola Mobility over FRAND abuse – June 30, 2012
Apple asked standards body to set rules for essential FRAND patents – February 8, 2012