Thursday, January 3, 2013

U.S. trade agency institutes investigation of Ericsson's complaint against Samsung

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC, or ITC) just announced its decision to investigate a patent infringement complaint filed by Ericsson against Samsung on November 30, 2012.

Ericsson is seeking a U.S. import ban against dozens of products, such as the Samsung Galaxy S III (and its predecessor, the S II), the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (GT-I9020A), the Samsung Infuse 4G, the Samsung Captivate Glide, and the Samsung Galaxy Note as well as its successor, the Note II. Ericsson is also targeting various form factors (7.0, 8.9, 10.1) of the Galaxy Tab and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. The accused media players include multiple versions (3.6, 4.0, 4.2 and 5.0) of the Samsung Galaxy Player, as well as various Blu-ray players. Ericsson also provides a long list of accused televisions.

Ever since I've been following ITC cases, all complaints by high-profile complainants have also been investigated. There are certain requirements to be met, but sophisticated companies generally do their homework.

About two weeks ago, Samsung hit back at Ericsson with an ITC complaint of its own over seven patents, with a clear emphasis on the fourth-generation cellular telecommunication standard, LTE. I would be shocked if Samsung's complaint didn't give rise to an investigation as well.

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