Recently, Sony Ericsson sued Indian Micromax. This conflict has arrived over an increasing enforcement of Standard-essential patents (SEP) in Asia. The Delhi High chourt order the company, Micromax, to "make a deposit" for Ericsson's financial interest.
"The royalties to be deposited are category-specific and set forth in the order as follows:
- "A. For phones/devices capable of GSM : 1.25% of sale price.
- B. For phones/devices capable of GPRS + GSM : 1.75% of sale price.
- C. For phones/devices capable of EDGE + GPRS + GSM : 2% of sale price.
- D. WCDMA/HSPA [UMTS] phones/devices, calling tablets : 2% of the sale price.
- E. Dongles, data cards : USD 2.50""
These Royalty rights are quite high, although we are dealing with intellectual property infringement in India. IP is critical to the growth of an emerging market, and Ericsson is no exception. Afterall India does not have the best reputation so far when it comes to patent protection. Compared to China, India is far less advanced in protection of foreign and Domestic IP. This needs to change. A emerging market can have loose patent laws, in fact many should. However, if a country like India, has too loose of a legal enforcement, companies like Sony Ericsson will leave India. While Ericsson leaving India would not destroy the economy, it would create a chain reaction of other companies leaving. That would cause a economic disaster for India.
An interesting note, is that Ericsson has been on an patent suing rampage recently, with Ericsson accusing Samsung of FRAND violations, and many more SEP cases with various other companies.
Leave your opinions below!
No comments:
Post a Comment