Ericsson and ZTE have resolved patent licensing issues that had seen both parties taking legal action against each other. In April 2011, Ericsson filed lawsuits in Germany, UK and Italy against ZTE for infringing on some of its GSM and 3G/UMTS technology patents. ZTE responded with its own patent claim.
The parties have now signed a global agreement and have agreed to drop all litigation.
Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson, said “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 license from Ericsson. We have signed more than 90 patent agreements with different vendors worldwide. Now we can add ZTE to this group.”
Ericsson notes that ZTE has signed a royalty bearing cross-licensing agreement complying with Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory royalty compensation.