TYLER, Texas – U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis has granted a summary judgment in favor of Ericsson Inc. and five other telecommunications companies after finding no evidence that the companies violated antitrust laws in establishing technological standards for the wireless communications industry.
The order entered Sept. 11, 2007, dismisses claims brought by New Jersey -based Golden Bridge Technology Inc., which alleged that the defendants illegally conspired to exclude its CPCH technology as part of a global standard for mobile phones and portable data transmission devices.
Ericsson was represented by a team of attorneys from Dallas’ McKool Smith, including Mike McKool, Jr., Samuel F. Baxter, Theodore Stevenson, III, Patrick J. Conroy, and Lindsay Martin.
Golden Bridge had sought more than $1 billion in actual damages in the case. The total damages could have reached as much as $3 billion had the court found in favor of the plaintiff. Other defendants in the case were Nokia Inc., Motorola Inc., T-Mobile-USA, Qualcomm Incorporated and Lucent Technologies.
The dispute stemmed from the establishment of the Third Generation Partnership Project in 1998 as a means to assure compatible, worldwide standards for telecommunications systems and equipment. Known as 3GPP, the non-profit organization is comprised of representatives from more than 260 wireless communications companies, including each of the defendants as well as Golden Bridge. In connection with the development of the 3GPP standards, Golden Bridge's CPCH technology was removed from the standard by 3GPP, along with a number of other technologies. Golden Bridge filed its antitrust complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in May 2005.
In his ruling, Judge Davis found that the defendants “did not engage in an antitrust conspiracy, but participated in the legitimate goal of simplifying the 3GPP standard” and that Golden Bridge failed to show that these actions caused any damages to the company.
McKool Smith has more than 85 attorneys in Dallas, Austin, Marshall, Texas, and Washington, DC handling commercial and intellectual property litigation for national and international clients. The firm is recognized as one of the premier litigation law firms in the United States, having earned significant courtroom victories for clients such as Electronic Data Systems, BearingPoint, Ericsson, Medtronic, Inc., and National Instruments.
For more information, please contact Bruce Vincent at 214.559.4630 or bruce@legalpr.com.