三星和爱立信未更新一项专利许可协议

本文选自《外语小事》的博客，点击查看博客原文

　　Samsung Electronics has sought a ban on the import and sales of some Ericsson products in the US which it claims infringe its patents。

　　In a complaint filed with the US International Trade Commission (ITC)， Samsung has accused Ericsson of breaching seven of its patents。

　　The move counters Ericsson's complaint to the ITC, made in November, seeking a sales ban on some Samsung products。

　　Ericsson has also claimed that Samsung infringed some of its patents。

　　The Swedish firm had a licensing deal with Samsung under which the South Korean manufacturer was allowed to use various technologies patented by Ericsson in its products。

　　However, the two firms have failed to renew the agreement, despite negotiating for almost two years。

　　Ericsson has claimed that Samsung wants to reduce the fee it pays to license the said patents, while Samsung has argued that the fee demanded by Ericsson is too high。

　　"We have sought to negotiate with Ericsson in good faith. However, Ericsson has proven unwilling to continue such negotiations by making unreasonable claims, which it is now trying to enforce in court," Samsung said in a statement。

　　"Under such circumstances, we have no choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our company."

　　Patent sharing

　　Ericsson is one of the earliest innovators in the telecommunications field and holds thousands of patents for technologies used in everyday global communication。

　　Some of these technologies are key to products made by other manufacturers such as Samsung。

　　Companies which hold patents to such essential technologies enter licensing agreements with other manufacturers allowing them the use of patents under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions。

　　Firms pay royalties to the patent holder to use the technology。

　　Ericsson earned $938m (£585m) last year in revenue from more than 100 licence agreements with companies in the industry。

　　However, stiff competition has lead to a much more protective stance by many companies over their patents in order to generate revenues。

　　Earlier this month, European Union competition regulators accused Samsung of abusing its position of holding key patents, while trying to negotiate royalty rates with rival Apple。

　　Meanwhile, Nokia and Apple have also taken rivals to court over patent infringement。

　　三星电子一直在美国想方设法禁止进口和销售爱立信的一些产品，声称侵犯其专利权。

　　美国国际贸易委员会向法院递交诉状：三星指责爱立信违反它的7项专利。

　　在11月份，爱立信也向该委员会投诉，设法让委员会出台一项禁令禁止销售三星的一些产品。

　　爱立信还声称三星侵犯了它的一些专利。

　　瑞典公司有一个许可协议：韩国制造商三星允许爱立信在其产品中使用各种技术专利。

　　尽管谈判磋商进行了近两年的时间了，但两家公司都未更新协议。

　　爱立信声称三星希望降低授权专利支付费用，而三星认为爱立信要求的费用太高。

　　三星在一份声明中说，“我们本着诚意试着与爱立信进行谈判。但经确认爱立信不愿意继续就此不合理要求进行谈判，现在只好试着在法庭上解决”。

　　“在这种情况下，我们别无选择，只能采取应对措施保护我们的公司。”