The lawsuit filed by Ericsson against homegrown handset maker Micromax could see India emerge as the new battleground for patent infringement cases in the technology sphere.

Patent infringements lawsuits are a common practice in the western world.

Ericsson, the Swedish telecom equipment-gear manufacturer, moved the Delhi High Court for alleged patent infringements by Micromax.

Key issue

The foreign company is seeking a whopping Rs 100 crore in damages, even as it claimed that it has been in negotiations with the Indian manufacturer for about three years.

The heart of the matter, according to Ericsson, is Micromax's refusal to enter into a licensing agreement for technology patents it holds across several mobile technology standards such as GSM, EDGE and 3G. This is applicable to smartphones and some feature phones that have hit the market in the last few years.

Following the recent Samsung-Apple case, there is a likelihood of Indian companies getting drawn into such type of litigation, a legal advisor for corporates told Business Line .

Industry watchers are of the opinion that more such cases would tumble out as Indian handset and tablet manufacturers grapple with the complex technologies.

“More litigations will come up related to technology, whether in telecom or life sciences as Indian companies have not paid adequate attention to it,” Jaideep Ghosh, Partner at KPMG, said.

Companies, on the other hand, opined that they have legal teams to look into these matters

“Companies are severely crunched in terms of manpower and they don’t understand implications of new technology. This is the reason some of them like Google and Apple are buying patents to safeguard themselves,” Ghosh added.

In 2011, Google had bought 1,029 patents from IBM involving mobile technologies and in a similar initiative, a consortium led by Apple bought around 6,000 patents after Nortel Networks had shut down. The problem is further compounded by lack of budgets for resources that can keep track of discovery and reporting of patent filings. Indian companies, according to analysts, shell out spend less than 1 per cent of their total spend on patents.

Patent applications

In 2011, the total number of patent applications in India was estimated to be 37,000, according to the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks. In 2010, it stood at 34,000.

“It is a global battle and India is part of that and this going to be a way of life in this industry,” another analyst said.

When contacted, a company spokesperson said: “Micromax is committed to negotiating a FRAND license with Ericsson as Ericsson has undertaken to provide a Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) license to Micromax. Since the matter is pending before the court it would be incorrect for Micromax to make any further statements on the matter.” While Micromax does not share numbers, analysts estimate that India has 27 million smartphone users last year.

>venkatesh.ganesh@thehindu.co.in

>rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in

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