Ericsson and Samsung announced a global cross license agreement covering patents relating to GSM, UMTS, and LTE standards for both networks and handsets. Under the multi-year deal, Samsung will make ongoing royalty payments to Ericsson. The initial payment in the agreement will impact Ericsson sales and net income in Q4 2013 by SEK 4.2 billion (US$650 million) and SEK 3.3 billion (US$510 million) respectively.
Ericsson said that it is committed to licensing its standard-essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms for the benefit of the industry.
“We are pleased that we could reach a mutually fair and reasonable agreement with Samsung. We always viewed litigation as a last resort,” said Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson. “This agreement allows us to continue to focus on bringing new technology to the global market and provides an incentive to other innovators to share their own ideas.”
