Back in December 2021, Apple filed a lawsuit against Ericsson accusing it of unfair and strong-arm tactics in cellular patent licensing negotiations. In retaliation, Ericsson has filed a patent infringement litigation against the Cupertino giant and is now targeting its Brazilian redistributor.
Last year, Apple had some of its Standards-Essential Patents (SEPs) expire which are owned by Ericsson. The company did not renew them and instead tried to negotiate with Ericsson for a better deal. However, talks fell apart and Ericsson filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of bad faith negotiations and patent infringement. Apple responded with a lawsuit of their own accusing Ericsson of unfair and strong-arm tactics in cellular patent licensing negotiations.
For those unaware, Standards-Essential Patent (SEPs) are patents without which, in the case of smartphones, a manufacturer cannot make a device. There is a global agreement that licenses for these patents must be available on FRAND terms: fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory.
Since then, the legal battle over the patents has continued to escalate as Ericsson is now going after the Cupertino giant’s Brazillian wholesaler Allied Tecnologia SA in order to make pressure on Apple by cutting off their Brazillian supply chain.
A Foss Patents report on the matter reads “Ericsson keeps up the pressure on Apple. A filing made by Apple in the Eastern District of Texas on Monday (January 31) mentions that “[i]n Brazil […], in addition to targeting Apple in a previous injunction request, Ericsson […] filed for a second preliminary injunction on January 17 against Allied Tecnologia S.A., based on Ericsson’s claimed 4G cellular SEPs and merely because Allied resells Apple cellular products.” Apple is now intervening to protect its wholesaler.
Ericsson’s tactic to go after resellers is the same one that Apple used back in 2012 as part of its own patent infringement claims against Samsung.
Apple has also escalated the matter and is trying to invalidate ten patents held by Ericsson.
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(via)
