Ericsson v. Samsung: déjà vu all over again In November 2012, Ericsson sued Samsung, and the Korean electronics maker responded in kind. They settled in January 2014, and it now appears that at least a part of that license agreement has meanwhile expired or is about to expire. The original announcement of that deal said the agreement covered all patents they already owned back then and the ones they'd obtain over the next ten years, but if it had been a ten-year license agreement, Ericsson wouldn't be suing. So it was most likely a seven-year deal (plus backroyalties for the period during which they were litigating) that is set to reach the end of its term in a couple of weeks--and the reason they included patents obtained further down the road might simply have to do with liability issues over past damages for the period starting with the publication of a patent application.