Apple has now sued Telecom giant Ericsson, alleging the Swedish company for charging excessive royalties for its cellular patents. Apple further said that these patents were not essential to the cellular industry, Reuters reported.
The Cuoertino giant mentioned, that it has not infringed upon any of the patents and that Ericsson was charging royalties as a percentage of the overall smartphone price. Apple has argued that the royalties should be charged on the value of the processor chip that includes the technology.
The lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in California.
Apple further mentions that even if court rules in favour of Ericsson’s patents being essential to the industry, it should set up a fixed royalty rate to be paid, rather than the exorbitant ones which the Swedish telecom gear maker is currently charging.
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said,
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’s patent deal with Ericsson goes back to 2008, when the first iPhones were launched. Ericsson, which has termed these patents “standard-essential”, charges royalties based on the price of the entire smartphone.
However, this isn’t the first instance where in Ericsson has been involved due to its patents. Back here in India, the company had sued Xiaomi, Micromax and certain other Indian vendors of violation over its Standard essential patents. The Delhi High Court, to everyone’s surprise, even granted an ex-parte injunction against those brands, only to be partially lifted later.
IMAGE : FLICKR / CC 2.0 / Kārlis Dambrāns
