Posted on 02/27/2015 4:32:31 PM PST by Swordmaker
“Ericsson AB said Friday it is suing Apple Inc. for infringing technology patents it says are critical to many aspects of the U.S. tech giant’s popular mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads,” Dominic Chopping and Juhana Rossi report for The Wall Street Journal.
“The Swedish telecom equipment supplier said Apple had declined a licensing deal and refused an offer to have a court determine fair licensing terms by which both companies would be bound. ‘Our last offer was to have this determination either in [a federal court in] Texas or in a court selected by Apple in California. They declined,’ said Gustav Brismark, head of patent strategy at Ericsson,” Chopping and Rossi report. “Ericsson and Apple had a licensing agreement which required Apple to pay royalties for its use of technology patented by Ericsson. The agreement, originally struck in 2008, expired in January.”
Chopping and Rossi report, “Due to what Mr. Brismark called Apple’s refusal to negotiate, Ericsson has now filed two complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission, and seven complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.”
MacDailyNews Take: Rocket docket.
“In January, Ericsson and Apple said they were suing each other in a dispute over royalties for patents linked to high-speed wireless technology,” Chopping and Rossi report. “A spokesman for Apple on Friday referred to the company’s statement in January. ‘We’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights to standards essential patents covering technology in our products. Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree with Ericsson on a fair rate for their patents so, as a last resort, we are asking the courts for help,’ Apple said in a statement on Jan. 14.”
(Excerpt) Read more at macdailynews.com ...
Looks like the Swedes will be rightfully taking a big bite out of Apple. It’s not like Apple doesn’t have the money.
I am NOT an apple fanboi, but it seems that nothing attracts lawsuits more than success.
No, actually what Apple is doing is having the court fix a fair price, which Ericsson wouldn’t do on its own. It will be set by the court at a fair price and level ... which is all Apple wanted in the first place.
Sometimes companies (like Ericsson) think they can “get away with murder” ... and it takes a court to set them straight.
This is a “no-brainet deal” that the court is going to deal with.
In this case Apple wanted it to go to court, in order for the court to set a fair price!
My money is on Ericsson. That’s some ancient money there and the Swiss can be pretty coercive when they need to be.
The deal with Ericsson is not that they won’t get paid ... just like they were paid befor by Apple ... but rather ... that Ericsson won’t be able to EXTORT a higher than normal price. The court will make sure that Ericsson can’t do its extortion on Apple ... :-) ...
Here’s what Apple said ...
“A spokesman for Apple on Friday referred to the company’s statement in January. ‘We’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights to standards essential patents covering technology in our products. Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree with Ericsson on a fair rate for their patents so, as a last resort, we are asking the courts for help,’ Apple said in a statement on Jan. 14.”
Apple HAD been paying the Nokia Standard Essential Patents (SEP) under Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing royalties . . . but Nokia is trying to increase them beyond the FRAND rates, or is demanding cross licensing. That is outside the FRAND rules. When they upped their demands, Apple had no choice except to refuse. Once that happens, it has to go to court for the court to settle the amount under the FRAND contractual rules. Nokia has done this every time the licensing comes due. Apple will win under the FRAND rules and will continue the SEP licenses under FRAND again.
Apple. The Patriots of the tech world.
Ericsson is owned by Sony. . . and Apple could BUY Sony with pocket change right now. Sony's total valuation is only $32.45 Billion. That may be old money, but $750 Billion trumps $32.5 Billion every day.
Sorry. . . but the last company who tried this sued in a European court. . . and was handed their heads. Samsung lost their patents because you cannot sue in Europe using SEPs. The EU then considered FINING Samsung their entire worldwide YEARLY PROFIT for trying it in the first place!
So Ericsson is bringing this case in an American court, the only place where Standards Essential patent infringement can still be brought without too much fear of losing your patent. . . but even here it is an iffy thing. Only ONE court has allowed punitive damages on SEPs and that is under appeal. SEPs are controlled by contracts with third parties and those who own the patents and those who use them are all signatories on those contracts. They are all careful of how they are used because the users and the owners are usually one and the same, just not for the same patents. For example Apple owns about 900 cellular phone Standard Essential Patents. Ericsson owns SEPs as well. . . they are cross licensed. They do NOT want to get into a war over patent license pricing.
Ericsson is playing Patent Hold-Up because they want something from Apple. Apple will NOT blink. It may be they want some of Apple's iPhone technology licensing in exchange. That's what Nokia wanted back when the iPhone first came out and they refused outright to license their SEPs to Apple for anything less than SEVEN TIMES the FRAND rate! They would give them free if Apple would cross license the iPhone patents, though.
What other US tech company still has all of their US tech support located in the USA?
My money is on Apple.
and that is always the truth
Good luck with that.
Talk about a Freudian slip. . . or slop. Nokia did this back when the iPhone first came out. I of course meant Ericsson. Sorry about that.
Usagi_yo above put his on Ericsson. Would it surprise you both that my money is on BOTH?
What is going to happen is that the court will find quite truthfully that Apple is indeed infringing Ericsson's Standards Essential Patents. . . and award Ericsson the going FRAND rates just as Apple has claimed it should be paying in the first place, because they are encumbered by contractual obligations that spell out exactly what should be charged between patent holder and licensee. Case over.
Apple wins what it set out to establish when they sat down at the negotiating table months ago, while Ericsson wins the infringement case. Apple walks away with the status quo they had before the patent licenses expired.
Thanks for explaining it further.
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