Ericsson (ERIC) has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung today, claiming that the Korean giant infringes Ericsson’s patents while refusing to license its own essential technology. The telecom equipment maker says Samsung licensed its patents in 2007, but those licenses have expired. Ericsson says it has been trying to renegotiate the licenses with Samsung for two years without success. Now the company is seeking an injunction on sales of a number of Samsung’s products, including the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II.
Ericsson has filed two suits in a U.S. federal court in Tyler, Texas, about 96 miles from the Swedish company’s North American headquarters. The suits allege that Samsung is infringing various wireless standards essential patents held by Ericsson. Samsung also holds some standards essential patents, and Ericsson says the conglomerate is unwilling to license those on fair and reasonable terms.
The first lawsuit filed by Ericsson lists 11 patents and the second lists 13 patents, including one for display control in a handheld data processing device. In this suit, Ericsson demands that Samsung “offer Ericsson a license on FRAND terms for any patent claim that Samsung Electronics contends or has alleged in any context is necessary to implement a standard adopted by an industry standard-setting group.” FRAND means “fair and reasonable” terms, and the “in any context” phrase is likely a reference to other patent lawsuits in which Samsung may be involved.
“The telecom ecosystem builds on fair and reasonable terms that have created an attractive global mass market for mobility and broadband with Ericsson as a main contributor”, said Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson. “By the end of 2012 there will be approximately 6.6 billion mobile subscriptions in the world. The sharing of technology in the telecom industry is one of the main drivers behind this development.”
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