Apple and Samsung’s long, drawn-out patent battle was the talk of tech for several years, and now things have finally begun to die down since both companies realized the legal costs of the suits far outweighed the benefits. Apple isn’t quite done with patent-related court battles, however, and on Wednesday it filed a new lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Northern District of California.
But this time, Samsung isn’t the target of Apple’s suit.
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According to a report from Reuters early Wednesday morning, Apple has filed a lawsuit arguing that it should not have to pay royalty fees to Ericsson for several wireless patents that it has deemed are not essential to industry cellular standards.
The company argued in court filings that the fees it must pay for certain Ericsson patents related to the LTE wireless standard are excessive. Apple also argued that it has not infringed the patents in question, and should therefore not have to pay fees.
“We’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights to standards essential patents covering technology in our products. Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree with Ericsson on a fair rate for their patents so, as a last resort, we are asking the courts for help,” an Apple spokeswoman told Reuters.
The patents in question are covered by an agreement Apple signed with Ericsson in 2008.
