Ericsson sues Apple over patent undervaluation

The Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson has filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the American tech giant of systematically undervaluing its patents. As a result, according to Ericsson, Apple would like to avoid the payment of royalties.

Ericsson and Apple are in talks, according to Bloomberg, about the license terms to be paid to the Swedish company for, among other things, 5G patents. According to Ericsson, Apple would use practices to undervalue Ericsson’s patents during these negotiations. That way it has to pay less payments. Ericsson believes that Apple does this on a global scale and also with other patent holders in order to pay less royalties. A court in the United States must therefore decide whether the royalties that Ericsson charges are fair.

What exactly Apple’s practices entail is not stated. During a previous negotiation in 2015 over the same patents, Ericsson said Apple questioned the legitimacy of seven Ericsson patents that Ericsson claimed were industry standards.