Ericsson, ZTE sign royalty license deal

STOCKHOLM: ZTE Corp, China's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker, has signed a royalty-bearing license deal for some Ericsson patents, the Swedish company said on Friday. ZTE had said on Thursday that the two had agreed to drop patent lawsuits against each other.

"We have signed more than 90 patent agreements with different vendors worldwide. Now we can add ZTE to this group," Kasim Alfalahi, Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson, said in a statement.

Ericsson in April 2011 filed lawsuits in Germany, Britain and Italy against ZTE for infringing on several of its patents. ZTE said Thursday it would drop a lawsuit against Ericsson in China.