Ericsson battle heads for court

Mobile phone giant Ericsson is suing a British company for alleged patent infringement in three countries.

The Swedish company said Sendo’s mobile phone products infringe on certain Ericsson patents covering GSM and GPRS technologies. It said it filed the lawsuits in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany.

Ericsson said it is seeking an injunction against the continued sale and marketing of Birmingham-based Sendo’s mobile phone products and unspecified monetary damages.

“We believe that Sendo is using Ericsson patented technology, but they have so far not signed a license agreement with Ericsson. Under these circumstances we have no choice but to take Sendo to court,” said company spokesman Kasim Alfalahi.

Ericsson said it is committed to make its technology available to all in the industry who want to use it through licensing.

Most of the world’s manufacturers of GSM or GPRS mobile phones have already joined the Ericsson patent licensing programme, it said.

“Basically, all we ask is that companies who use technology invented by Ericsson compensate us for this, the same way we are prepared to compensate others for our use of their technology,” Alfalahi said.