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ERICSSON

Ericsson and ZTE settle patent dispute

Swedish mobile network giant Ericsson and Chinese rival ZTE have settled their patent infringement disputes, Ericsson said in a statement on Friday.

Published: 21 January 2012 09:29 CET
Ericsson and ZTE settle patent dispute

“The parties have now signed a global cross-licensing agreement and both parties have also agreed to drop all litigation,” said the statement.

In April, Ericsson filed lawsuits in Britain and Italy against ZTE for infringement of its patents on mobile phones.

The Swedish firm also filed a lawsuit in Germany regarding phones and infrastructure after saying it had tried unsuccessfully for several years to get the Chinese company to sign a license for its products.

ZTE, which in recent years has zoomed to join the ranks of the world’s top mobile phone manufacturers, responded within days with countersuits for allegedly breaching its Chinese patents on network technology.

ZTE launched the legal action against Ericsson (China) Communications Co. Ltd for allegedly breaching its Chinese patents on a range of products involving “core networks, GSM infrastructure and 4G infrastructure”.

The escalating legal dispute remained unresolved for the remainder of the year until the firms announced on Friday that they had buried their respective hatchets.

The Swedish firm expressed satisfaction over the agreement.

“Ericsson has the strongest patent portfolio in the industry with over 27,000 patents and any company which sells mobile devices or systems needs a licence from Ericsson,” said Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson.

“We have signed more than 90 patent agreements with different vendors worldwide. Now we can add ZTE to this group,” he added.

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SWEDEN AND UKRAINE

Ericsson suspends all Russia operations indefinitely

Swedish network equipment maker Ericsson said Monday that it was suspending all of its Russian operations over the war in Ukraine for the foreseeable future.

Published: 11 April 2022 19:42 CEST
Ericsson suspends all Russia operations indefinitely

The telecom giant already announced in late February that it would stop all deliveries to Russia following Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“In the light of recent events and of European Union sanctions, the company will now suspend its affected business with customers in Russia indefinitely,” Ericsson said in a statement.

The company added that it was “engaging with customers and partners regarding the indefinite suspension of the affected business.”

“The priority is to focus on the safety and well-being of Ericsson employees in Russia and they will be placed on paid leave,” it said.

READ ALSO: How has Sweden responded to Putin’s war in Ukraine so far?

Hundreds of Western firms ranging from Ikea to Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs and McDonald’s have stopped operations in the country since the invasion, with French banking group Societe Generale announcing Monday it was selling its stake in Russia’s Rosbank.

Ericsson has around 600 employees in Russia, and is a “major supplier to the largest operator MTS and the fourth largest operator Tele2,” a company spokeswoman told AFP, adding that together with Ukraine, Russia accounts for less than two percent of revenue.

As a result, the equipment maker said it would record a provision for 900 million Swedish kronor ($95 million, 87 million euros) for the first quarter of 2022 for “impairment of assets and other exceptional costs,” though no staff redundancy costs were included.
Ericsson is due to publish its first quarter earnings on April 14.

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