Two European mobile players are sparring over the licensing rights of
some GSM and GPRS technologies.
Sweden-based Ericsson and U.K.-based Sendo wasted little time in their respective claims of patent infringement and
unfair business practices.
Ericsson started the ball rolling Thursday when it filed legal papers
accusing Sendo of using its technologies in several countries without
paying the proper licensing fees. Ericsson is asking the courts in
Britain, the Netherlands and Germany for an injunction against the
continued sale and marketing of Sendo’s mobile phone products, as well as an undisclosed amount of cash for the damages it claims it suffered.
Ericsson said it couldn’t understand why Sendo is holding out on the
payments since most of the world’s manufacturers of GSM/GPRS
program.
“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,” Kasim Alfalahi said.
“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.”
Sendo CEO Hugh Brogan told BBC News that the company was taken aback
by the lawsuit.
“We do not want a free ride,” Brogan said. “We respect other people’s
intellectual property. We will pay a fair, reasonable and
non-discriminatory royalty.”
But later in the day, Sendo filed its own complaint
with the European Competition Commission under Articles 81 and 82 of the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) rules.
Sendo charges that Ericsson licenses its patents to third parties on
an “unfair, anti-competitive, abusive and discriminatory basis leading
to the charging of excessive royalty rates.”
Sendo’s claim is that the GSM
funded by the European Union and the corresponding ETSI rules, define the
conditions of competition in the market for GSM technology — not
Ericsson.
Sendo has recently been working on expanding its global image. The
company, which sold about five million handsets in 2004 compared to
the 684 million sold elsewhere around the world, recently unveiled its
first handset with a color display and 3D feature
screen, as well as its first Bluetooth headset/handset combination.
Sendo has gone head-to-head with larger companies before. The handset
maker settled its lawsuit against Microsoft in September 2004.
Sendo accused Microsoft of having a “secret plan” to plunder its
proprietary information and technical expertise.