Ericsson, Samsung kiss and make up

A RARITY IN BATTLES over mobile phone technology, this one - Samsung vs Ericsson - has come to a successful conclusion.

A cross-licensing agreement between the two expired back in 2005. The pair then started to sue each other. Now they've agreed to stop all legal actions over patent infringements.

Interestingly, Samsung's royalty payments enable it to produce GSM and W-CDMA infrastructure equipment - not just handsets.

Readers may be wondering why Ericsson also needed the rights to Samsung's patent portfolio since it spun off its handset division into Sony Ericsson some years back.

The answer is that Ericsson still has a 3G handset platform design which, in theory, it can supply to Sony Ericsson's rivals.

It does prove, however, that Nokia isn't alone in contesting IPR in the handset market. It's just that disputes with the likes of Qualcomm are more public. µ

L'INQ
Ericsson