Comments
Swedish mobile infrastructure player Ericsson is yet again under scanner for alleged discriminatory practices.
This time domestic handset and computer peripheral maker Intex Technologies has approached Competition Commission of India alleging that the global firm charges exorbitant royalty rates and unfair terms for licensing its patents.
Micromax’s plea It may be recalled that in November 2013, Micromax had also approached CCI against Ericsson for allegedly demanding unfair, discriminatory and exorbitant royalty for its patent regarding GSM technology.
Micromax said Ericsson had abused its dominant position by imposing exorbitant royalty rates for standard essential patents as it was aware that there was no alternative technology available and it was the sole licensor globally.
In its order, CCI said that the probe against Ericsson for alleged discriminatory practices should be clubbed with ongoing investigation against it.
Intex said that Ericsson had sizeable business in the handset manufacturing sector in the past, but recently been concentrating on its business of patent licensing / monetisation, which forms one of its prominent revenue streams. It also said that Ericsson, by way of its “Term Sheet for A Global Patent Licence Agreement (GPLA)” demanded exorbitant royalty rates and unfair terms for licensing its patents to the Informant. Ericsson also made it clear that the jurisdiction and governing law for the GPLA would only be Sweden.
According to industry experts, royalty payments for such patents can be up to two per cent. Considering that a smartphone involves around two lakh patents, royalty on each would make the proposition costly for domestic players.
“Ericsson has made numerous attempts to sign a licence agreement with Intex Technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms but have to date failed to do so. We are aware that Intex Technologies now have filed a competition claim with the Competition Commission of India against us.
Ericsson statement “Ericsson does not agree with the allegations made by Intex Technologies but will fully cooperate with the authorities to reach a fair and reasonable conclusion. As this is on-going investigation we cannot comment any further,” according to statement from Ericsson.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.