Samsung seeks Ericsson ban
By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics has countersued Ericsson to seek a sales ban on some of the Sweden-based telecom equipment giant’s products in the United States.
The Korean technology giant said Wednesday that it filed a complaint against Ericsson with the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), asking a complete import and sales ban on Ericsson’s products. The firm has accused Ericsson of breaching seven of its patents,
The action taken Friday by Samsung came after Ericsson requested an ITC U.S. import ban on products and sued the Korean firm for patent infringement.
Samsung spokesman Park Han-yong said the Suwon, Gyeonggi Province-based outfit is doing its best to defend consumer rights for varied products by countersuing the Swedish telecom equipment maker.
``No one in the industry would underestimate Samsung’s ability to become a significant player, if not the leader, in a new segment of the overall market for telecommunications hardware. This certainly adds a more strategic dimension to the Ericsson-Samsung dispute,’’ wrote Florian Mueller in his popular FossPatents blog.
Mueller, a German intellectual property authority, added the amount of royalties paid by a company to a direct competitor always has implications of going beyond a mere financial transaction.
Samsung has been paying billions of dollars in royalties to Ericsson in return for using the latter’s patented equipment for use in Samsung devices.
But Ericsson previously asked Samsung to pay more. The Korean company refused citing Ericsson’s breach of trust to meet the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principle, Samsung officials said.
Ericsson representatives in Seoul weren’t available for comment.
Impressed by the steadily-growing demand for Web-connected devices such as smartphones and tablets, Samsung has been aggressive in bolstering its profile in the network equipment market.
The Swedish company is still the leader in that segment, though it is suffering from a significant drop in sales of its network unit.
``While the two companies are no longer competing in the wireless gadgets market, Samsung is now building a telecommunications infrastructure business. Samsung’s foray into Ericsson’s market is much less talked about than its Galaxy phones and tablets. But it’s starting to show results,’’ Mueller said.
The Korean firm recently announced an long-term evolution (LTE) infrastructure deal with United Kingdom carrier Three, which it described as its ``first commercial mobile network roll-out in Europe,’’ Ericsson’s home ground.
``We’ve learned that Samsung was stealing shares of Ericsson-owned stakes in the market for network equipment. This fight is also related to Samsung’s stronger appetites for shares for LTE network equipment. Last year, Samsung established a Europe Network Operation for an increased presence in the market for LTE network equipment in Europe, annoying Ericsson,’’ said an official from the Korea Intellectual Property Office by telephone, asking not to be identified.
According to company officials, Samsung Electronics heir-apparent and Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong is directly handling its LTE network equipment business.
``Jay-yong needs to prove his ability in businesses other than semiconductors and smartphones. The LTE network equipment market has higher growth potential,’’ said one Samsung official.
Samsung is involved in a global patent war with Apple in over 50 different cases in 10 countries. U.S. Federal Judge Lucy Koh recently refused to accept Apple’s request to ban Samsung products from being sold in the United States.