Will Apple be forced to pull the iPhone from the US market?
Swedish mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson wants Apple iPhones pulled from the U.S. market for patent infringement. In a filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the company is requesting an exclusion order against Apple’s products for infringing Ericsson patents that are essential to the 2G and 4G/LTE standards, according to Reuters.
To date, Ericsson has accused Apple of infringing on as many as 41 patents relating to mobile technology.
Until mid-January, Apple had been paying Ericsson royalties. When talks over renewal failed, the companies sued each other.
According to Kasim Alfalahi, Ericsson’s chief intellectual property officer:
We have offered them a license; they have turned it down. We’re not a company that’s planning to extract more than the value we put on the table.
It will be interesting to see how this conflict plays out. Most likely, some sort of an agreement will be made between the two companies out of court. The least likely scenario is the ITC forcing Apple to pull iPhones from the U.S. market. In other words, Ericsson will get its money eventually.
See also: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says the net neutrality decision is a ‘victory for the people,’ China removes Apple from approved government purchase lists, and Apple ordered to pay $532.9 million in patent infringement case.