Ericsson and Apple Sign Licensing Deal, Ending Legal Dispute

Ericsson announced it has reached a multi-year, global patent license agreement with Apple, effectively ending global patent disputes between the companies. 

In a statement(Opens in a new window) posted on Ericsson’s website, the two companies agreed to strengthen their “technology and business collaboration”, and signed a deal including a “cross-license relating to patented cellular standard-essential technologies.” 

According to 9To5Mac, the companies first sued each other in 2015, after accusing each other of various patent infringement and licensing disagreements in regard to 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies. 

After settling the initial lawsuits, a new battle(Opens in a new window) resumed in October 2021 over 5G patent licensing, as both companies filed patent infringement lawsuits and Ericsson sought a ban on iPhone imports. 

In the statement, Ericsson said its intellectual property rights revenue is still affected by expired patent license agreements pending renewal, the technology shift from 4G to 5G, possible currency effects, and “geopolitical impact” going forward.

The statement added: “This settlement ends the lawsuit filed by both companies in several countries, including the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, as well as the complaints filed before the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).”

It’s worth noting the lawsuit filed in Texas kicked off this week, as reported in FossPatents(Opens in a new window). 

Christina Petersson, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson said: “We are pleased to settle the litigations with Apple with this agreement, which is of strategic importance to our 5G licensing program. This will allow both companies to continue to focus on bringing the best technology to the global market.”

Meanwhile, in a financial update, Ericsson expects its fourth quarter intellectual property rights licensing revenue to be between SEK5.5 billion to SEK6.0 billion, which is about $531.3 million to $579.7 million. As MorningStar reports(Opens in a new window), in the fourth quarter of 2022, Ericsson’s intellectual property rights revenues were SEK2.4 billion.