Ericsson and Samsung end cellular patent spat

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 10 July 2007 02:32

Business IT - Technology

Ericsson and Samsung have renewed their 2002 agreement to cross-licence each other's intellectual property covering 2G and 3G cellphones and network equipment, after initiating legal actions against each other.

Financial details were not disclosed nor were details of the patents covered by the agreement. When it announced the original agreement in 2002, Ericsson said it had granted Samsung a non-exclusive licence under its patent portfolio for the GSM, TDMA, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA mobile telephony standards that would enable Samsung to develop, manufacture and sell 2G and 3G subscriber and infrastructure equipment and that, in return, Samsung would provide a royalty payment and a reciprocal license to Ericsson.

"The agreement...specifically gives Samsung access to Ericsson's portfolio of WCDMA patents - the most extensive in the industry," Ericsson said.