Ericsson Seeks US Import Ban On Samsung Products

angry tapir writes "Just a few days after Ericsson filed several patent-infringement lawsuits against Samsung in the U.S., the Swedish mobile phone company also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), asking for an import ban of a wide range of Samsung products, including the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note. Ericsson alleges that Samsung violates Section 337 of the Tariff Act by importing patent-infringing products into the U.S and selling them."

Re:Samsung may be devious....

[mr1911]

If you can't beat 'em with a better product, litigate 'em.

And yet more of my hard earned money...

[MetalliQaZ]

... is sucked up by lawyers and judicial staff by way of my handset manufacturer.

On any given day you can replace "handset manufacturer" with "OS vendor", "service provider", "app developer", etc.
This system stinks and it doesn't function in my interests as a consumer (or an engineer, for that matter).

Re:Irrelevant Company

[iluvcapra]

I believe Ericsson was a quite popular brand of phone in the dumbphone era, but their reputation has since died off.

This is a company that made something like $26 billion in revenue last year. They're still a first-tier vendor for back-end equipment.

Maybe we should make some law that says a person's patents don't count, provided they stop making products that attract the attention of shallow cellphone trend blogs.

Re:Irrelevant Company

[Anonymous Coward]

Last I checked Ericsson had close to 40% of the world-wide core network market, i.e. the stuff on the ground.
They also sit on a lot of Radio essential patents.
Samsung says they want a licence closer to the old one, but Ericsson has offered the same as they offer everyone else to Samsung now.

Ericsson also spun off their handset business as a joint venture with Sony quite a while ago and finally sold their half to Sony recently. So Ericsson and Samsung are no longer competitors in this area but they do compete on Ericssons core business.

If I have to guess, this complaint with the FCC is just there to provide leverage in the licence agreement discussions.

Re:Samsung may be devious....

[nurb432]

Even if you can build a better product, these days why bother? If you do create a better product you will just be sued anyway, so why not get a head of the curve and sue first?

It is not beyond me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ericsson is part of an alliance with Microsoft, Apple, and others who see Linux and Android as a threat to their business model.

http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/partners/ericsson.aspx#fbid=LZQES70oV98

http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/01/rim-apple-sony-microsoft-consortium-snags-nortel-wireless-pat/

The whole point to to keep the litigation going as long as possible.

Re:Not in violation of 337

[jrumney]

IANAL, but since these are patents that Samsung used to license, and that license agreement has lapsed, it might not need a court ruling to prove that the products do infringe upon these patents.

Re:Interesting

[jrumney]

s/Samsung/Ericsson/g - this is a bait and switch tactic by Ericsson; license FRAND patents for a low cost at first, then try to increase the rates later. Samsung should be commended for standing up to them, even if no other manufacturers have.