Ericsson warns against ‘secret’ Chinese SEP trial
Ericsson has urged a US district court to protect its jurisdiction in a dispute over which venue should hear a standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing dispute with Samsung.
The Korean technology company obtained an anti-suit injunction from a court in Wuhan, China, blocking Ericsson from litigating the case in other countries.
Ericsson subsequently obtained its own injunction from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, where it is suing Samsung over patent royalties, prohibiting Samsung from seeking enforcement of the Wuhan court’s order.
The companies are now both asking the Texas court to assert the authority of their preferred jurisdiction to hear the case.
Ericsson is seeking a preliminary injunction on the back of the Texas court’s temporary restraining order against Samsung. The court held a hearing on the issue yesterday, December 7. A public transcript of the hearing is not yet available.
In a filing this week, Ericsson told the Texas court that the “legitimacy of Chinese courts is not at issue in this motion—only Samsung’s bad behavior is”.
According to filing, Samsung filed the suit in Wuhan without informing Ericsson, and “secretly asked the Wuhan court to enjoin essentially all related actions worldwide”.
Samsung’s Wuhan suit also only asks the Chinese court to issue a worldwide licence on Ericsson’s 4G and 5G patents, and “none of Samsung’s SEPs,” the Swedish company said.
Ericsson has received the support of law professor Adam Mossoff, who filed an amicus brief in support of the Swedish technology company this week.
According to Mossoff, who teaches at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, “the Wuhan proceedings that Samsung brought against Ericsson illustrate a marked lack of due process and transparency, which correlates with issues in which China’s economic interests are at stake”.
Mossoff has previously written in the media about alleged Chinese IP theft, including a “dual strategy of protecting its domestic IP while stealing the labors of innovators and creators in other countries”.
Earlier this week, WIPR reported that Samsung had urged the US court to respect the authority of the Wuhan court. Its filings included a declaration from a former US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit judge, who vouched for the ability of the Wuhan court’s to deal with the case fairly.
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