ITC agrees to investigate Apple products

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate Apple after Ericsson claimed that its iPhone and iPad products used technology that infringed its patents.

Ericsson has requested that the ITC put a blocking order on the sale and importation of Apple iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Apple Macs, as well as other products.

Ericsson filed two complaints with the ITC on February 26.

In one of the complaints, Sweden-based Ericsson said Apple refused to agree to a pay a licensing fee for eight of its patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

The patents held by Ericsson cover 2G and 4G long term-evolution (LTE) network connections and are considered standard-essential (SEP). All SEPs are required to be licenced on FRAND terms.

LTE is the standard technology for high-speed data communication in mobile phone networks.

In the second complaint six patents are at dispute.

The complaints at the ITC were filed on the same day that Ericsson sued Apple in seven separate infringement cases at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Within the seven infringement complaints, Ericsson has asserted 41 patents.

The ITC will set a target date for completing its investigation within 45 days of it starting.

Orders in section 337 cases become final 60 days after their issuance unless they are rejected by the US Trade Representative for policy reasons within that time frame.

A spokesperson for Ericsson told WIPR: "We are pleased that the ITC will investigate this matter. Apple devices rely on Ericsson’s inventions. We are committed to offering patents on FRAND licensing terms, but Apple is abusing that commitment.

"We hope that the ITC will take the necessary steps to protect the global marketplace and support sharing of innovation in open standards through FRAND licensing," the spokersperson added.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.