Ericsson files patent suit in Texas against Samsung

Ericsson said yesterday it is suing Samsung Electronics in a U.S. court for infringing its patents, thus adding to the Korean tech king’s woes as it also seeks to fend off a global patent war being waged against it by Apple.

“Ericsson has today filed a lawsuit in the United States against Samsung for infringing its patents, after nearly two years of negotiations failed to reach an agreement,” the Swedish telecommunications equipment maker said in a statement posted on its Web site.

“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 [more] of Ericsson’s patented inventions that are frequently implemented in wireless and consumer electronics products.”

Ericsson claims it has contributed hundreds of its inventions to help form current standards in exchange for fair royalties, and to that end it has signed more than 100 licensing agreements with the major players in the industry.

The lawsuit concerns fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (Frand) licensing, which the Swedish tech firm believes strikes an “appropriate balance between incentivizing companies to contribute technology to open standards and maintaining the overall royalty rates at a reasonable level to allow new entrants access to the market.”

The latest suit by Ericsson was filed at the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, where its U.S. headquarters are located.

By Seo Ji-eun [spring@joongang.co.kr]