The Delhi High Court recently ruled against Indian mobile brand Lava for infringing on patents held by Swedish telecom giant Ericsson. The court directed Lava to pay a hefty fine of over Rs 244 crore for using Ericssons intellectual property without permission.The patents in question are related to essential 2G and 3G technologies, including AMR speech codec, EDGE, and 3G functionalities. The court also dismissed Lavas arguments regarding the validity of the patents and their good faith efforts in negotiating licensing agreements.Justice Amit Bansal, in its March 28 order, upheld the validity of seven out of eight Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) claimed by Ericsson. According to the ruling, Lava is mandated to pay the damages of Rs 244 crores along with 5% of interest annually, until it makes the full payment. In addition to this, the company will also bear the court fees.In addition, the court partially canceled Lavas suit patent and allowed Ericssons claim for taxable costs. It declared that Lava had not negotiated the licensing agreements in good faith and rejected its arguments on the validity and essentiality of Ericssons patents.Lavas plan to base royalties on chipset value was rejected by the court, which emphasized the importance of fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing conditions and favored end-product level royalties in the telecom industry.Notably, the liability on Indian brand Lava has come when it is planning to accumulate Rs 500 crore through either private equity investment, a public listing or both.
