The Inquirer-Home
Hardware > Handhelds

Ericsson, Samsung kiss and make up

No more patent disputes
By Tony Dennis
Tue Jul 10 2007, 14:12
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

Share this:

< Previous article| Next article >
Comments

There are no comments submitted yet. Do you have an interesting opinion? Then be the first to post a comment.

aboutus
Advertisement
Subscribe to INQ newsletters
Click here to sign up Existing user
INQ White papers

Databases

Network management

Security

Service oriented architecture

Storage
Advertisement
INQ Jobs
INQ Poll

Authorities in several countries raided Megaupload recently, shut down all of its services, seized hundreds of servers and arrested several of its executives on criminal charges.

Do you think the move was justified?

View other polls
Follow us:
Business & Technology websites:
Business research resources:
Products:
Investment Market IT websites:
Find out what you are worth:
Search for a job:
Recruitment Agency A-Z Directory
Accreditations: