Ericsson Files Patent Suit Against Samsung

Ericsson is the world's largest maker of wireless network equipment. Samsung is certainly more recognizable name and is a company that makes some of the most popular Android smartphones on the market along with hordes of other hardware. Ericsson has announced that it has filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung Electronics.

The suit comes after Samsung and Ericsson failed to extend the licensing agreement after years of negotiations. Ericsson filed lawsuit in the US federal court in the Eastern District of Texas where the judge is known to side with patent holders. Ericsson reports that it had offered to extend the licensing deal to Samsung using FRAND terms.

Samsung claims that Ericsson is demanding prohibitively high licensing fees. Samsung noted in a statement, "[Ericsson] demanded prohibitively higher royalty rates to renew the same patent portfolio. As we cannot accept such extreme demands, we will take all necessary legal measures to protect against Ericsson's excessive claims."

Ericsson maintains that Samsung is refusing to pay the FRAND rate that its competitors are paying for the same standard-essential patents. Ericsson reportedly made $937 million in 2011 from licensing its patents to other companies. There's no indication of when the case will go to court at this time.

[via Bloomberg]