Samsung Devices Infringe 4 Ericsson Patents, Alleges Texas Suit

Ericsson owns a “valuable portfolio” of patents used globally in cellular handsets, tablets, TVs and “many other electrical devices,” and a wide variety of Samsung smart TVs and smartphones, including the new Galaxy S20+5G flagship phone, infringe four of them, alleged a New Year’s Day complaint (in Pacer) in U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas. The oldest of the asserted patents (6,879,849) dates to April 2005 and describes an “in-built antenna” for mobile communications devices. The Galaxy S20+5G includes an “antenna pattern” formed of conductive metal located on a “specified planar surface” of a main printed circuit board, next to the phone’s millimeter-wave 5G circuitry, in violation of the patent, said Ericsson. The most recent patent (9,313,178) was granted in April 2016 for a method and system for securing over-the-top live video delivery. Samsung smart TVs and smartphones that support Google’s Widevine digital rights management system “perform the step of detecting content encryption key rotation boundaries between periods of use of different content encryption keys in decrypting retrieved content,” said the complaint. The manner in which the products do so violates the patent, it said. Ericsson seeks a judgment that Samsung’s infringement is “willful,” plus punitive and compensatory damages “in no event less than a reasonable royalty,” it said. Samsung didn’t respond to questions Monday.