Ericsson and Samsung agree licensing terms
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Ericsson and Samsung agree licensing terms

Sweden’s Ericsson and South Korea’s Samsung have come to a mutual agreement on global patent licences.

Under terms of the agreement, Samsung is reportedly set to pay Ericsson $650 million, as well as several years of royalties, to settle a disagreement started in 2012.

Complaints had previously been made by both companies against each other over a number of licensing terms, and the cross licence agreement is designed to settle any legal disputes.

"We are pleased that we could reach a mutually fair and reasonable agreement with Samsung,” said Kasim Alfalahi, chief intellectual property officer at Ericsson.

“We always viewed litigation as a last resort."

The agreement covers patents for LTE, GSM and UMTS standards, on both networks and handsets.

“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," Alfalahi added.

Ericsson said it was committed to licencing it standard-essential patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms, in order to create a balance between incentivising companies to innovate, as well as maintaining a stable marketplace for new entrants.

Samsung also signed a global patent cross-licencing agreement with Google yesterday, designed to reduce the potential for litigation, and enhance innovation.

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