Possible Section 337 Cellphone Battle Brewing at ITC
Comments are due to the International Trade Commission by Oct. 25 in a potential Section 337 investigation on imported 5G-capable mobile phones and components, according to a notice in the Federal Register.
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Ericsson filed a complaint Oct. 11 alleging that Motorola and Lenovo import 5G-capable mobile phones that infringe on four of Ericsson's patents concerning protecting privacy in wireless networks, wireless transmission, uplink and downlink controls, and wireless encoding. It asked the commission for a permanent limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order.
The company said the infringement is part of Lenovo's longstanding bad faith licensing negotiations regarding Ericsson's fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) commitments. Ericsson said it has been in negotiations with Lenovo for more than a decade over several Ericsson patents "essential" to cellular standards.
Ericsson has "expressly conditioned its FRAND commitment on receiving a reciprocal license from Lenovo," it said, while Lenovo has insisted Ericsson accept an "unreasonably low rate" for Ericsson’s patents as a condition of obtaining a cross-license under Lenovo’s essential cellular patents.