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Ericsson under investigation by India's antitrust agency over standard patents |
November 28, 2013
India's antitrust agency is investigating allegations that Ericsson is demanding exorbitant royalty rates from an Indian mobile phone vendor for its standard-essential GSM patents.A "hold-up" by the patent owner, in terms of a demand for higher royalties or more costly or burdensome licensing terms than could have been obtained before the standard was chosen, can subvert the competitive process of choosing among technologies and undermine the integrity of standard-setting activities, the Competition Commission of India said in its order.Ultimately, the high costs of such patents get transferred to consumers, the CCI order said. Ericsson appears to be dominant in the GSM and CDMA markets in India and holds large number of patents in both mobile technologies, it added.The Indian mobile phone company, Micromax Informatics, has alleged that Ericsson has sought royalty on the cost of the phones rather than on the value of the technology and chipset used in the phone, which seems to be contrary to guidelines for licensing patents covered under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, CCI said. Ericsson has also declined to share with Micromax commercial terms of FRAND licenses with licensees similarly placed as the Indian company, it added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2067760/ericsson-under-investigation-by-indias-antitrust-agency-over-standard-patents.html#tk.rss_all
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