KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.—InterDigital Communications Corp. is crying foul over a request by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to the International Chamber of Commerce for new arbitration relating to a patent royalty dispute.
The ICC recently awarded InterDigital $134 million in its dispute over Samsung’s licensing of InterDigital’s technology for GSM/TDMA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE handsets.
InterDigital asserted that Samsung merely seeks to delay payment of the monies due, and that the handset vendor had no legal basis for new arbitration. Samsung declined to comment on the matter, according to a spokesperson in Seoul.
In addition to requesting new arbitration, Samsung also sought to have the arbitration award vacated by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, where InterDigital is seeking to have the court convert the award into a judgment so that InterDigital can collect it.
The dispute dates back to 1996, when the two parties entered an agreement on technology development and patent licensing. In a related dispute over 2G technology with Nokia Corp., the ICC rendered an award to InterDigital in June 2005—confirmed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York—and, in April Nokia paid InterDigital $253 million.
