Ericsson has filed multiple lawsuits against Apple across three countries. The suits were filed in three German courts (in Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Munich) and one court each in Brazil and the Netherlands.
The lawsuits, reported by Juve Patent, relate to the same dispute over licensing fees on so-called FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) patents that led Apple to sue Ericsson in December in a Texas court. At the time, Apple accused the Swedish firm of “strong-arm tactics” in its negotiations.
Apple’s 2015 licence expired in December, so the company currently has no licence for the technologies in question.
According to Juve Patent, Ericsson has requested an import ban on the iPhone – technically, for all 4G and 5G products – in the US. The site says Apple has not responded to its request for comment.
Florian Müller of Foss Patents is surprised that Ericsson has not also sued Apple in London, but expects that a second wave of lawsuits may be on the way. “My bets would be on the UK for the next European jurisdiction in which Ericsson might file,” he writes, “depending on how Apple responds to this week’s developments.”
Müller also writes that Ericsson is not a direct competitor of Apple and thus has nothing to gain from an import ban. It is therefore only a matter of getting fairly paid for its contribution to 4G and 5G technologies.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation (using DeepL) and additional reporting by David Price.
