Ericsson — Regulatory Filings 2020

Dec 11, 2020

6-K 1 d18016d6k.htm 6-K 6-K

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN ISSUER

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

December 11, 2020

Commission File Number 000-12033

LM ERICSSON TELEPHONE COMPANY

(Translation of registrant’s name into English)

Torshamnsgatan 21, Kista

SE-164 83, Stockholm, Sweden

(Address of principal executive offices)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F. Form 20-F ☒ Form 40-F ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): ☐

Announcement of LM Ericsson Telephone Company, December 11, 2020 regarding “Ericsson update: IPR license renewals and risk of financial impact”.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

T ELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM E RICSSON (publ)
By:	/ S / XAVIER DEDULLEN
	Xavier Dedullen Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer

By:
Carl Mellander Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Date: December 11, 2020

PRESS RELEASE December 11, 2020

Ericsson update: IPR license renewals and risk of financial impact

• Legal action filed against Samsung in the U.S. for non-compliance with FRAND commitments

• Risk for temporary negative impact on operating income of SEK 1 – 1.5 b. per quarter, relating to several contract renewals and potential litigation expenses

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today filed a lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, against Samsung, for violating contractual commitments to negotiate in good faith and to license patents on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms and conditions.

The case addresses breaches of FRAND obligations by Samsung and seeks to obtain a ruling by the court that Ericsson has complied with its own commitments.

The FRAND system is a fundamental building block of a rich ecosystem that has allowed global cellular connectivity to scale to more than 8 billion interoperable connections. It allows access to intellectual property, developed by contributors like Ericsson, under global mobile standards, on FRAND terms and conditions. It also rewards those contributors for their significant up-front investment in R&D in each mobile generation.

Several license renewal negotiations may delay the payment of IP royalties if they extend beyond the expiry of existing licenses into an unlicensed period (noted in Q2 and Q3 2020 reports). Once renewed, unpaid royalties are expected to be recovered and recognized as revenue at the time of renewal.

Current geopolitical conditions are impacting handset sales volumes as is the shift from 4G to 5G handsets. This, in combination with delayed royalty payments from unlicensed periods and potential costs of litigation, may impact Ericsson’s operating income by SEK 1 – 1.5 b. a quarter beginning in the first quarter 2021. The actual financial impact will depend on the timing and terms and conditions of new agreements.

The value of Ericsson’s IP portfolio extends to more than 54,000 granted patents and is strengthened by annual investment in R&D of approx. SEK 40 b. With a leading global position in 5G, the company is confident of growing its IPR revenues long term, thereby further maximizing the value of the overall patent portfolio.

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PRESS RELEASE December 11, 2020

NOTES TO EDITORS:

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Contact person

Peter Nyquist, Head of Investor Relations

Phone: +46 705 75 29 06

E-mail: peter.nyquist@ericsson.com

Investors

Stefan Jelvin, Director, Investor Relations

Phone: +46 709 86 02 27

E-mail: stefan.jelvin@ericsson.com

Lena Häggblom, Director, Investor Relations

Phone: +46 72 593 27 78

E-mail: lena.haggblom@ericsson.com

Media

Peter Olofsson, Head of Corporate Communications

Phone: +46 702 67 34 45

E-mail: media.relations@ericsson.com

Corporate Communications

Phone: +46 10 719 69 92

E-mail: media.relations@ericsson.com

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PRESS RELEASE December 11, 2020

ABOUT ERICSSON

Ericsson enables communications service providers to capture the full value of connectivity. The company’s portfolio spans Networks, Digital Services, Managed Services, and Emerging Business and is designed to help our customers go digital, increase efficiency and find new revenue streams. Ericsson’s investments in innovation have delivered the benefits of telephony and mobile broadband to billions of people around the world. The Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on Nasdaq New York. www.ericsson.com

Forward-looking statements

This release includes forward-looking statements, including statements reflecting management’s current views relating to the growth of the market, future market conditions, future events, financial condition, and expected operational and financial performance, including, in particular the following:

• Our goals, strategies, planning assumptions and operational or financial performance expectations

• Industry trends, future characteristics and development of the markets in which we operate

• Our future liquidity, capital resources, capital expenditures, cost savings and profitability

• The expected demand for our existing and new products and services as well as plans to launch new products and services including research and development expenditures

• The ability to deliver on future plans and to realize potential for future growth

• The expected operational or financial performance of strategic cooperation activities and joint ventures

• The time until acquired entities and businesses will be integrated and accretive to income

• Technology and industry trends including the regulatory and standardization environment in which we operate, competition and our customer structure.

The words “believe,” “expect,” “foresee,” “anticipate,” “assume,” “intend,” “likely,” “projects,” “may,” “could,” “plan,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “predict,” “aim,” “ambition,” “seek,” “potential,” “target,” “might,” “continue,” or, in each case, their negative or variations, and similar words or expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. Any statement that refers to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements.

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PRESS RELEASE December 11, 2020

We caution investors that these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements.

Important factors that could affect whether and to what extent any of our forward-looking statements materialize include, but are not limited to, the factors described in the section “Risk Factors” in the latest interim report, and in “Risk Factors” in the Annual Report 2019.

These forward-looking statements also represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date that they were made. We expressly disclaim a duty to provide updates to these forward-looking statements, and the estimates and assumptions associated with them, after the date of this release, to reflect events or changes in circumstances or changes in expectations or the occurrence of anticipated events, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange regulations.

This information is information that Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above at 08:00 am CET on December 11, 2020.

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