Ericsson, ZTE Spat May be Near Resolution 爱立信与中兴的官司尘埃落定？

By newsdoug on September 1, 2011

ZTE, Ericsson near lawsuit settlement Eight months after the news first broke, we’re finally getting a little more color on the potentially devastating lawsuit filed against telecoms equipment and cellphone maker ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063) by global rival Ericsson (Stockholm: ERICb), and things don’t look as bad as they did initially. Few details were given when Ericsson filed the suit in Britain back in April, but the action had the potential to halt ZTE’s sales in major European markets. (previous post) ZTE fired back with a meaningless lawsuit filed in China a short time later, but both companies have been largely mute on the subject since then. But now Chinese media are reporting an Ericsson executive attending an event in Beijing made some brief remarks on the matter in response to a question, and it looks like this whole issue is simply a question of money. (English article) That’s quite an important distinction, as companies that file such lawsuits usually do so with one of two objectives in mind. Companies like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) usually file their IP lawsuits to force a competitor to stop making a product altogether. But in many other instances, which appears to be the case with Ericsson vs ZTE, the company filing suit simply wants another company to pay royalties by forcing the offending company to legally license its technology. If that’s the case here, then I would expect a resolution of this dispute in the near future. Of course, any new licensing deal will hurt ZTE, whose low costs are one of its chief advantages, by driving up those costs. But in the longer term, ZTE will be able to continue selling its products in Europe and elsewhere without interruption, and the company can return to competing against Ericsson in the marketplace rather than in the courtroom.

Bottom line: New remarks from Ericsson suggest its lawsuit against ZTE is all about licensing and money, and a resolution could soon be forthcoming.

从纠纷一开始到现在已有八个月之久，现在我们终于对此事有了多一些了解。电信设备商爱立信(ERICb.ST)此前在欧洲一纸诉状将中兴通讯(0763.HK; 000063.SZ)告上法庭，该诉讼看起来可能给中兴致命重创，不过目前状况看起来并没有当初那麽差。4月份，爱立信在英国起诉中兴通讯，外界对相关细节知之甚少。但诉讼有可能阻止中兴通讯在主要欧洲市场的销售。中兴通讯很快就予以回敬，在中国对爱立信提起诉讼。此後，两家公司在这个问题上双方基本沉默不语。但是中国媒体近期报导，一名在北京参加活动的爱立信高管在回答提问时此事做了简短的评论，看起来整个事情仅仅是钱的问题。这是一个非常重要的分界线。企业提起此类诉讼时，除了钱的目的外，往往希望一箭双雕。苹果(AAPL.O)等公司发起专利诉讼通常是为了迫使竞争对手停止产品生产。但更多情况下，一家企业提起诉讼通常是为了迫使另一家企业购买技术许可，支付专利费，爱立信与中兴通讯的纠纷似乎就属这种情况。如果事实确实如此，我预计近期两家公司应该就能解决纠纷。当然，任何新的许可协议都有损中兴通讯，因低成本是它的主要优势之一。但从长远一些来看，中兴通讯可以在欧洲等地继续产品销售工作，继续与爱立信同台竞争，而非仅仅局限于法庭之上。

一句话：爱立信高管最近的表态暗示，爱立信与中兴通讯的官司仅仅属于授权许可与钱的问题，纠纷不久应该就能尘埃落定。