03
Feb
By John Presper
On January 5, 2021, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. of Korea and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey (collectively, “Samsung”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337.

The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the “Proposed Respondents”) unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain wireless communications equipment and components thereof that infringe one or more claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,521,616 (“the ’616 patent”); 10,797,405 (“the ’405 patent”); 9,041,074 (“the ’074 patent”); and 9,736,772 (“the ’772 patent”) (collectively, “the asserted patents”):

  • Ericsson AB of Sweden
  • Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson of Sweden
  • Ericsson Inc. of Plano, Texas

According to the complaint, the asserted patents generally relate to wireless communications base station equipment for use with 4G and 5G applications. In particular, the ’616 patent relates to reducing power consumption in a base station that uses a multi-antenna system. The ’405 patent relates to the design of a 5G capable antenna that supports higher data rates than previous generations. The ’074 patent relates to a multilayered antenna package for millimeter band communication that allows for lower manufacturing costs than prior techniques. Lastly, the ’772 patent relates to reducing a base station’s power consumption by reducing the operation voltage of a power amplifier based on the traffic load on the base station.

The complaint asserts that the Proposed Respondents import and sell wireless communications devices or software for use with 4G and 5G applications and components thereof that infringe the asserted patents, such as: base band units, antenna units, antenna systems, radio units, radio systems, mobile transport systems, site systems, digital units, CPU units, modem units, central units, power amplifiers, or related software; radio access network software; network management software; cloud radio access networks; virtual radio access networks; and radio access processing platforms. In particular, the complaint identifies Ericsson’s Street Macro 6701 base stations as accused products.

The complaint asserts that a domestic industry exists with respect to the ’405, ’616, and ’772 patents, and that a domestic industry is in the process of being established regarding the ’074 patent. The complaint further states that certain Samsung 4G and/or 5G base station equipment practice at least one claim of the asserted patents, including the Samsung AT1K01, AT1K04, HT5H01, RRH-P4A, MTP02P-41A, CDU30, LMD1, LCC4, GMA1, GCB1, GCA1, GMA0, RF4402d-D1A, RFD01F-26A, RFV01U-D1A, RFV01U-D2A, RRH-P4(MRRH19), RT2201RU, and RT4401-48A products. Samsung further asserts that it “employs hundreds of direct employees and contractors, and invests hundreds of millions of dollars, to perform all of the steps required to install, support, and maintain its base stations” in the U.S., and “performs numerous additional steps to implement and service the base stations” such as “network planning, installation, integration and commissioning, field testing, optimization, and software-related services.”

Regarding related litigation, the complaint refers to an action filed by Ericsson in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Case No. 2:20-cv-00380-JRG) seeking, among other things, “specific performance requiring Samsung make available to Ericsson a license to all of its Essential Patents on FRAND terms” and asserting certain patents against Samsung which Ericsson has declared are standard essential, as well as “subsequent actions” filed by Ericsson in the Eastern District of Texas asserting claims of additional patents against Samsung (Case No. 2:21-cv-00001), and in the ITC alleging violations of Section 337 based on the same patents (see our February 3, 2021 post regarding Ericsson’s ITC complaint).

With respect to potential remedy, Samsung requests that the Commission issue a permanent limited exclusion order and a permanent cease and desist order directed at the Proposed Respondents and related entities.