Ericsson slaps patent suit on Sendo

British mobile phone manufacturer Sendo is being sued by Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson for alleged patent infringement.

The lawsuit alleges that Sendo committed multiple breaches of Ericsson's intellectual property in several countries. The disputed patents cover GSM and GPRS technology.

"This was unprovoked, unannounced and unnecessary," said Hugh Brogan, chief executive at Sendo.

"Negotiation with Ericsson over IP licensing has been going on for some time and those negotiations have not broken down or anything. We were surprised to get this lawsuit this morning."

Brogan did say that some time ago Sendo had launched an official complaint against Ericsson to the EU Competition Commission relating to the practice of major telecoms companies sharing intellectual property among themselves while charging outsiders much higher prices.

Kasim Alfalahi, vice president of patent licensing at Ericsson, said: "Basically, all we ask is that companies which use technology invented by Ericsson compensate us for this in the same way that we are prepared to compensate others for our use of their technology.

"We believe that Sendo is using Ericsson patented technology, but it has so far not signed a licence agreement with Ericsson. Under these circumstances we have no choice but to take Sendo to court."

Sendo is used to being on the end of legal cases, but has a winning record. Last year Microsoft settled with the Birmingham-based company over a failed joint venture.