Ericsson has filed new lawsuits against Apple in the US state of Texas, alleging the iPhone maker violates its patents, Reuters reports. This follows failed negotiations over renewing their patent licensing deal.
Ericsson sued first in October 2021, claiming that Apple was trying to improperly reduce the royalties it pays on standards-essential patents held by Ericsson for mobile technology. Their existing licence agreement, struck in 2015 after a previous round of lawsuits, then expired at year-end. So Apple is now using Ericsson technology without a licence, an Ericsson spokesman confirmed.
According to industry blog Fosspatents, Ericsson filed two suits against Apple in the Western District of Texas over four patents in one case and eight in the other. Apple also countersued in the earlier suit in the Eastern District of Texas, while Ericsson pursued another case against the company in the Netherlands.
Ericsson confirmed to the site Juve Patent that the company also filed lawsuits against Apple in Duesseldorf, Mannheim and Munich in the past week. The company also filed additional lawsuits in the Netherlands and Brazil, with Ericsson accusing Apple of infringing several patents, including 5G patents.
Additional legal action in other countries and at the International Trade Commission in the US are likely as the companies seek to force their terms in a new deal. Ericsson settled a similar dispute with Samsung last year.
