Ericsson is trying to prevent Brazilian resellers from reselling Apple's iPhone and other products, as part of its ongoing legal battle with Apple over a series of 5G patents. At the same time, Apple is Attempting to use Samsung's previous efforts to invalidate ten Ericsson patents.
The patent battle between Ericsson and Apple has been escalating throughout December and January, including Apple accusing Ericsson of misconduct in patent licensing negotiations, trying to incite a U.S. import ban, and other global filings. As a continuation of the campaign, Ericsson decided to try to block the sale of Apple products in Brazil.
Ericsson filed a "second preliminary injunction" against Allied Tecnologia SA on January 17, Apple said in a Jan. 31 Eastern District of Texas filing, Fox Patent Network reported. The ban, based on 4G patents owned by Ericsson, appears to be aimed at the wholesaler because it resells Apple products such as the iPhone.
Ericsson previously filed a preliminary injunction against Apple itself in Brazil, and the move to wholesalers appears to be an attempt to put pressure on Apple in the country. The briefing also mentioned that the dispute escalated to Europe, where Ericsson filed another lawsuit against Apple on January 24, again seeking an injunction against another phone patent.
In the lawsuit for the Eastern District of Texas, Apple has proposed a timeline for the case, which will begin litigation on the matter in early December 2022. On Apple's side, Apple appears to have expanded the number of Ericsson-owned patents it is trying to invalidate. After an initial batch of seven patents, three more Ericsson patents were discovered, and Apple filed a patent litigation and appeals board application, bringing the total to 10.
These patents are all related to telecommunications, such as "Method and Apparatus for Performing Preamble Assignment of Random Access in a Telecommunications System", and "Transmitter, Receiver, and Method for Transmitting Discovery Signals". None of Apple's patents were filed by Ericsson, yet they are all being challenged by Samsung in 2021. Apple is likely using Samsung's censorship campaign to try to attack the patents, effectively eliminating a possible future weapon for Ericsson.
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