Ericsson and Apple bury the hatchet
Swedish telecom company Ericsson announces that it has reached a global patent license agreement with Apple. The agreement includes a cross-license relating to patented cellular standard-essential technologies and grants certain other patent rights.
The parties have also mutually agreed to strengthen their technology and business collaboration, and according to Ericsson, this will include technology, interoperability and standards development.
This settlement also ends the lawsuits filed by both companies in several countries, including in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, as well as the complaints filed before the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).
Ericsson says that its IPR licensing revenues continues to be affected by several factors, including expired patent license agreements pending renewal, the technology shift from 4G to 5G, and possible currency effects and geopolitical impact going forward.
Including the effects of the agreement with Apple covering sales from January 15, 2022, and including ongoing IPR business with all other licensees, Ericsson estimates the fourth quarter 2022 IPR licensing revenues will be SEK 5.5 – 6.0 billion (EUR 504 million – EUR 549 million).
“We are pleased to settle the litigations with Apple with this agreement, which is of strategic importance to our 5G licensing program. This will allow both companies to continue to focus on bringing the best technology to the global market,” says Christina Petersson, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson in the press release.
