In the latest bizarre twist to the patent infringement battle between Apple and Ericsson, the Cupertino company has responded to the iPhone ban in Colombia by claiming that its human rights have been infringed.
The company requested emergency relief in Colombia just days after being warned by a US judge not to abuse the court system there by filing emergency requests for non-emergencies …
The Apple Ericsson patent battle jumped to a new level yesterday, when the first iPhone sales ban went into effect in Colombia. Now Apple appears to be set on obtaining an injunction against the import and sale of Ericsson products.
The specifics of the move are a legal first for the company, made possible by its billion-dollar acquisition of Intel’s modem business back in 2019 ….
Ericsson has been seeking an iPhone sales ban in multiple countries due to 5G patent infringements, and has now succeeded in obtaining the first of these, in Colombia. The ban applies to the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPad Pro models with 5G capabilities.
Apple is of course fighting the injunction but has been accused of double standards for objecting to three separate legal tactics that it has used itself in the past …
Ericsson’s 5G Apple patent infringement claim has now reached its sixth country, with the latest filing in the UK’s High Court. The Swedish telecoms company is trying to obtain import bans on iPhones in the US and elsewhere as it piles on the pressure for Apple to reach a settlement.
One patent expert says that “the noose is tightening” on the Cupertino company, as it is looking increasingly likely that Ericsson will succeed in obtaining an iPhone injunction sooner or later …
The Apple vs Ericsson patent trial saga continues. We learned a couple of days ago that the Ericsson case against Apple would be heard in June of next year. This is where Ericsson accuses Apple of patent infringement in the 5G chips used in the latest iPhones.
We’re today learning that Apple’s countersuit, accusing Ericsson of infringing Apple patents in its base stations, will be heard the following month, in July. So far, things are still not looking good for the Cupertino company…
Amidst the ongoing 5G patent battle between Apple and Ericsson, a Texas Judge has settled on a court date of June 2023. According to FOSS Patents, there will be a scheduling conference on March 16 between the two’s attorneys. This is later than Apple had hoped, as it proposed a December 2022 trial.
The patent battle between Ericsson and Apple is further escalating. Ericsson is trying to ban resales of Apple products in Brazil, while Apple is trying to have no fewer than ten Ericsson patents declared invalid.
Ericsson is using one of Apple’s own legal tactics against the Cupertino company…
Ericsson has just published its 2021 accounts, and the numbers shed some light on the likely Apple patent license fees – which appear significantly lower than expected. Apple appears to be risking iPhone import bans over fees of around $100-150M per quarter.
The Swedish company warned that its Q1 2022 revenues are likely to be impacted by the fact that the iPhone maker is not currently paying the fees it has been paying between 2015 and 2021 …
Apple is facing the prospect of iPhone import bans in multiple counties as Ericsson steps up the pressure in its patent infringement claims.
Ericsson has already applied for injunctions in both Brazil and the Netherlands, and is expected to do so in additional European countries. One patent litigation expert says the UK is likely next in line …
Foss Patents yesterday said it was inevitable that we’d see Apple countersue Ericsson, and it didn’t take long for that to happen. Each company is now suing the other for patent infringement.
Ericsson is seeking to ban the import of iPhones, and Apple wants to ban the import of mobile base stations. The Cupertino company is said to be so afraid of this that it is making an “astounding” U-turn in the way it wants the dispute to be settled …
Ericsson has filed multiple iPhone patent infringement claims against Apple in two separate US lawsuits. In all, the company claims that Apple has infringed 12 patents, including ones relating to 5G.
It’s believed that Ericsson is seeking an import ban on iPhones over the claimed infringements in both the US and Germany, and likely other countries too …
Ericsson is continuing its allegations that Apple has infringed on a number of its wireless patents, filing lawsuits against the company in Germany, Netherlands and the UK, reports Reuters. The patents concern basic mobile phone technologies, including both GSM and LTE.
Ericsson’s attempt to have the iPhone banned from US sale over a patent dispute moved one step forward yesterday as the ITC agreed to investigate. Ericsson claims that iPhones infringe a number of its patents for fundamental cellphone technologies, including both GSM and LTE. Apple denies any infringement, and says that Ericsson is in any case demanding unreasonable amounts.
In an attempt to up the ante, Ericsson called on the U.S. International Trade Commission to block imports of the iPhone into the country, and the ITC has now agreed to carry out an investigation, reports PC World.
The ITC did previously apply a limited ban to the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and 3G iPads over a patent claim by Samsung (later overturned by President Obama), but in this case it seems likely that Ericsson is merely hoping that the possibility will force a faster settlement than would be reached through the courts.
Ericsson, an early pioneer in cellphone technology, has upped the ante in a patent dispute with Apple by asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to block the import of iPhones into the country.
Ericsson owns patents to a number of fundamental technologies used in all cellphones, including LTE, and Apple had been paying royalties for these up until mid-January when the license fell due for renewal, reports Bloomberg … Expand Expanding Close
In response to Apple taking Ericsson to court over wireless patent licensing, the Swedish telecommunications company has filed a lawsuit in Texas that seeks the court to determine whether its licensing offer to Apple is fair. Ericsson told the court that it has been attempting to reach a new licensing agreement with Apple for over two years, but negotiations have failed to result in a deal. The patents in question are related to wireless LTE technologies that Apple uses in products like the iPhone and iPad. Expand Expanding Close
Apple has filed a lawsuit against Ericsson over the licensing fees for technology patents related to LTE wireless connectivity, Reuters reported today. According to Apple, the company has not infringed any of the patents in question, which it says are not essential to the LTE networking standard.
Ericsson calculates its royalty fees based on the price of a complete handset rather than only the component that integrates the patented technology.
The latest court battle between Apple and Samsung begins today, with Samsung appealing against the $930M it was ordered to pay Apple for patent infringement in the first trial between the two companies. Samsung is arguing that the amount awarded was “excessive and unwarranted.”
It’s of course not the first time that the sum awarded has been disputed. Apple was initially awarded $1B in damages, with $450M of that later cut and a retrial required to determine a revised sum. The retrial awarded Apple $290M instead for that element of the case, giving Apple a revised total award of $930M … Expand Expanding Close
Demands from patent trolls – companies that invent nothing, but simply buy up patents in order to demand cash – are just a fact of life for any large company, and Apple doubtless receives hundreds of them each year. Some are, however, audacious than others.
The WSJ reports that German patent troll IPCom is demanding €1.57B ($2.12B) for use technology that is not only used in every mobile phone on the market, its use is required by law.
The chip is used to identify mobile phones used by the emergency services in order to give them priority access to networks when they are heavily congested, such as during a major disaster. Carriers can set their networks to block access to all phones in the vicinity of a major emergency other than those identifying themselves as belonging to police and rescue workers. The chip can be included in the circuitry of either a phone or a SIM.
Apple, Google, HTC, Ericsson and Vodafone had all asked the European Patent Office to declare the patent invalid, as it was part of a required standard. The EPO turned down this request after IPCom said that it had successfully sued other companies, including Nokia.
The case is now going to court, and will be heard on 11th February.
The Moving Picture Experts Group, otherwise called MPEG, announced a draft of a new video compression standard known as High Efficiency Video Coding, or H.265, that will be twice as efficient as the current H.264 standard. Ericsson Research Manager for Visual Technology Per Fröjdh, who also serves as chairman of the Swedish MPEG delegation, explained the standard could hit commercial products by 2013:
“There’s a lot of industry interest in this because it means you can halve the bit rate and still achieve the same visual quality, or double the number of television channels with the same bandwidth, which will have an enormous impact on the industry”… Fröjdh believes that the HEVC format discussed by MPEG in Stockholm could be launched in commercial products as early as in 2013… “It will take time before it’s launched for a TV service, but adoption is much quicker in the mobile area, and we’ll probably see the first services for mobile use cases next year,” he says.
Apple plucked a high-ranking executive from the folding Sony Ericsson Joint Venture, 9to5Mac has learned. President of Sony Ericsson U.S. and Head of Region North America Anderson Teixeira will be heading Apple’s Latin America region. He is leaving Sony Ericsson after a decade at the JV.
Sony is buying out Ericsson’s piece of the venture and the group is folding into Sony Electronics.
Teixeira started at Apple this month.
Internally at Apple, he is “Latin America General Manager,” but to the greater world he’s “Head of Latin America.” He will be operating out of Apple’s small Coral Gables Florida office at 1 Alhambra Plaza Suite 700. He has nine reports at that office.
A mid-2009 profile listed some background on his appointment at Sony:
Anderson Teixeira was based at the company’s US operations in Raleigh, North Carolina. A native of Brazil, Teixeira has been part of Sony Ericsson since the formation of the joint venture in 2001. He has led the company’s operations in Latin America, as Head of Region Latin America, based in Miami, Florida, and subsequently in Western Europe, based in Munich. As President of Sony Ericsson US, Teixeira will report to Sony Ericsson President Dick Komiyama. In his role as Head of Region North America, Teixeira will have overall responsibility for Sony Ericsson’s sales and marketing operations in the US and Canada.
It is not immediately clear who Teixeira will report to but we will update that information as it becomes available.
A consortium including Apple Inc, Microsoft, EMC Corp, Sony, Ericsson, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion bought bankrupt telecommunications gear maker Nortel Networks Corp’s remaining portfolio of 6000 patents for $4.5 billion, in an auction that began early this week.
RIM reportedly paid $770 million, Ericsson paid $340 million. It wasn’t immediately clear how much Apple paid.
Google had originally opened bidding with a $900 million bid. The consortium of strange bedfellows will split up the portfolio based on the split of the purchase price.
The sale is subject to Canadian and U.S. court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11. Full press release follows:
