http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/samsung-says-ericsson-behaves-like.html
I'm sure most of you have hear of Ericsson, part of what use to be Sony-Ericsson cellphones until Ericsson recently sold its part to Sony. Currently, Ericsson is suing Samsung for patent infringements in which Samsung has retaliated with their own complaints over patents. Samsung has asserted 8 of their own patents over Ericsson in their retaliation and a breach of FRAND agreement. If you do not know what FRAND stands for, it is "Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory" and is typically used to describe patent licensing terms.
What I find very interesting in this article is the fact that Samsung compares Ericsson with the infamous patent trolls. Ericsson is currently out of the cellphone market and yet still hold many patents in the field. Instead of quietly exiting the arena, Ericsson is using their patents in order, as what it seems, to provide some inflow of cash. Ericsson is no longer competing with Samsung and the other companies for the market. I agree with Samsung that Ericsson is acting like a troll. Instead of allowing companies like Samsung to grow and develop their products, Ericsson is utilizing their patents to halt Samsung just so they can make some cash!
Thoughts?
i would say Ericsson is in the grey-area of being a troll. It does not actively purchase patents to sue others for infringement, but is just asserting the patents that it has already had. Having said that, its intent for getting extra cash from their increased demands do make them seem like trolls.
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