Ericsson Suing Samsung for Patent Infringement

Fresh off a courtroom beatdown at the hands of Apple over patent infringement charges, Samsung is now being sued by Ericsson for similar alleged offenses.

The Sweden-based company filed suit against Samsung Tuesday in a U.S. District Court in Texas. Ericsson’s suit accuses the South Korea-based Samsung of infringing on 24 of its hardware and software patents.

Ericsson is the world’s largest maker of telecom-networking equipment, while Samsung is the world’s largest maker of cellphones and TVs.

Ericsson is looking to block sales of phones, including the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, as well as various Samsung cameras, TVs and Blu-ray devices.

Ericsson’s two complaints argue that Samsung requested to renew licenses for Ericsson technologies at rates much lower than other companies pay, and also witheld access to its own patents as a retaliatory move to pressure Ericsson into accepting a lower price. Holders of industry-standard patents — including, of course, Samsung and Ericsson — are required by law to license those patents to competitors at fair prices.

For its part, Samsung told The New York Times in a statement that it had sought to strike a fair deal, and that Ericsson’s demands were unreasonable.

“This time Ericsson has demanded significantly higher royalty rates for the same patent portfolio,” the company’s statement read. “As we cannot accept such extreme demands, we will take all necessary legal measures to protect against Ericsson’s excessive claims.”

While patent-infringement suits have become increasingly common in the competitive tech industry, Samsung is more familiar with their sting than most companies. After a high-profile trial in California this summer, a jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple more than $1 billion in damages over patents on mobile devices.

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Source : mashable