As part of its ongoing legal battle with Apple over a series of 5G patents, Ericsson is trying to prevent a reseller from the resale of Apple products in Brazil, while Apple is trying to use Samsung’s previous efforts to fight back, aiming to make Ericsson’s ten The patent is invalid.
The patent battle between Ericsson and Apple has been escalating throughout December and January, with Apple’s attempts to accuse Ericsson of misconduct in patent licensing negotiations, attempts to initiate a U.S. import ban and overseas “battles” in multiple countries. As a continuation of the event, Ericsson decided to try to stop Apple’s sales in Brazil.
Ericsson filed for a “second preliminary injunction” against Allied Tecnologia SA on January 17, Apple said in a Jan. 31 filing in the Eastern District of Texas. The ban, based on 4G patents owned by Ericsson, appears to be aimed at the wholesaler, which routinely resells Apple products such as iPhones.
Ericsson previously filed a preliminary injunction against Apple itself in Brazil, and the move to wholesalers appears to be an attempt to put pressure on Apple in the country. The briefing also mentioned that the dispute also escalated to Europe, where Ericsson filed another lawsuit against Apple on January 24, again seeking an injunction against another phone patent.
In the lawsuit for the Eastern District of Texas, Apple has proposed a timeline for the case, which will begin hearing the matter in early December 2022. Apple appears to have expanded the number of Ericsson-owned patents it is trying to declare invalid. After an initial batch of seven patents, three more patent lawsuits against Ericsson were uncovered, and Apple filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, bringing the total to 10.
These patents are all related to telecommunications, such as Method and Apparatus for Performing Preamble Assignment of Random Access in a Telecommunications System and Transmitter, Receiver and Method for Transmitting Discovery Signals.
None of Apple’s patents were filed by Ericsson, yet they are all challenged by Samsung in 2021. It is likely that Apple is using Samsung’s inter-party censorship to try to attack these patients, effectively eliminating the patent weapons Ericsson may use in the future.