RICHARDSON, Texas-Ericsson Inc. announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California dismissed a lawsuit filed against it by Qualcomm Inc. in December. However, Qualcomm said the dismissal was issued in an effort to consolidate the companies’ claims against each other for reasons of judicial economy, and the decision was not made on the merits of Qualcomm’s case against Ericsson.
In the lawsuit, Qualcomm charges Ericsson with unfair competition and impeding the acceptance and commercial deployment of Qualcomm’s Code Division Multiple Access technology and products. The suit also asks for a judicial declaration that certain Ericsson-owned CDMA patents were not infringed upon by Qualcomm, as was alleged by a lawsuit filed by Ericsson in September. Qualcomm said it will pursue its lawsuit in the Texas court where that lawsuit is pending.
Ericsson also filed with the court seeking dismissal of a second lawsuit brought by Qualcomm in February alleging infringement of Qualcomm’s patents for Interim Standard 95 CDMA handsets.
In response to the second lawsuit filed by Qualcomm, Anders Torstensson, executive vice president and general manager in charge of cellular phones for Ericsson, said, “This appears to be a completely frivolous lawsuit. We do not manufacture IS-95 handsets, and we have not made an offer to sell such handsets in the marketplace.
“It’s difficult, under the circumstances, to understand how we may have infringed a patent.”
Steve Altman, senior vice president and general counsel for Qualcomm, responded, “The court’s ruling has no bearing on Ericsson’s claims against Qualcomm or on the merits of Qualcomm’s claims against Ericsson, and we remain confident that Qualcomm will prevail in both disputes.”
