Ericsson responds to investigation by the State Administration for Market Regulation: Will fully cooperate

Jiwei.com exclusively released the report "The State Administration for Market Regulation conducted a surprise inspection of Ericsson and launched an antitrust investigation". According to the report, the State Administration for Market Regulation recently conducted a surprise inspection of the Beijing office of telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson and collected evidence on the spot. Prior to this, the industry reported that many mobile phone manufacturers reported to the State Administration for Market Regulation, complaining that Ericsson had violated the Anti-Monopoly Law in the 3G and 4G standard essential patent (SEP) licensing market.

Ericsson later responded and confirmed the news, saying that due to complaints from relevant companies about Ericsson's intellectual property licensing business in China, the State Administration for Market Regulation recently launched an investigation into Ericsson's related licensing business. Ericsson will fully cooperate with the investigation and will not make further comments during the investigation.

The surprise action by the State Administration for Market Regulation indicates that the State Administration for Market Regulation has initiated an investigation based on the complaints from mobile phone manufacturers. This is also the second antitrust investigation launched by the national antitrust regulatory authorities in the field of intellectual property licensing market after the Qualcomm antitrust case.

Like Qualcomm, Ericsson also holds a large number of standard essential patents in the field of communications, for which it charges a large amount of intellectual property fees every year. According to information disclosed by Ericsson in 2015, Ericsson has applied for more than 35,000 2G, 3G, and 4G patents in various countries around the world; Ericsson's annual intellectual property income is about 10 billion yuan.

However, as the holder of a standard essential patent, the principle of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) must be maintained when licensing intellectual property rights.

In its statement, Ericsson emphasized that the company licenses its industry-leading patent portfolio based on the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principle and is always committed to strictly adhering to this principle.

Referring to the National Development and Reform Commission's investigation into Qualcomm's suspected abuse of market dominance in 2013, if the State Administration for Market Regulation ultimately confirms that Ericsson has violated antitrust regulations, it may impose a series of penalties on Ericsson.