MARSHALL – The Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas jury has awarded Ericsson $75 million in its patent infringement case against TCL Communication Technology Holdings, agreeing that TLC infringed on the company’s patent for a software control system in mobile devices.
The jury agreed Dec. 7 with two claims by Ericsson that TLC infringed on the company’s patent and that the infringement was willful. The patent covered controlling access to terminals that transmit voice communications, which was infringed by TCL, which included the production of its Alcatel OneTouch Fierce and Evolve models.
Ericsson claimed in its initial January 2015 complaint that “TCL has imported into the United States, manufactured, used, marketed, offered for sale, and/or sold in the United States, smartphones and other devices for use in a mobile communications networks” that infringed on a total of five parents the company holds.
Four other patents that Ericsson sued over were ruled invalid.
On Dec. 12, Ericsson filed a motion for recovery of prejudgment interest, claiming that “an award of prejudgment interest is appropriate following a finding of infringement.”
Citing St. Lawrence Communs. LLC v. Motorola Mobility LLC, Ericsson noted in its motion that the interest rate, method and frequency of the compounding can be left to the discretion of the court.
According to its website, Ericsson claims it has one of the strongest mobile patent portfolios in the industry with some 42,000 granted patents, more than 100 global licenses and “141 years of innovation.”
Ericsson has been active in defending its patents in court in recent years and continues to be involved with efforts to protect its trademarks and develop industry standards.
In an effort to avoid potential patent conflicts, Ericsson earlier this year instituted a new policy to publicly set a price tag on what it will cost to license the telecommunications company’s technology for the next generation of high-speed mobile phone networks.
According to its website, Ericsson is among several service providers and handset manufacturers which are working together to come up with standards for 5G.