Ericsson Sues Samsung Over License Dispute

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. said it has filed lawsuits in four countries against Samsung Electronics Co. after the two vendors failed to reach a new agreement on royalty payments for Samsung's use of mobile technology covered by Ericsson patents.

"Unfortunately, we had to file the lawsuits because we haven't been able to agree to a renewal of our licenses with Samsung, which expired at the end of the year," said Peter Olofsson, a spokesman for Stockholm-based Ericsson.

The lawsuits were filed in Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. Olofsson declined to disclose the amount of money that Ericsson is seeking from Samsung, which couldn't be reached for comment on the lawsuits.

The two companies signed a license agreement in 2002 allowing Samsung to use patents held by Ericsson on technologies such as the Global System for Mobile Communications and the General Packet Radio Service, according to Olofsson.