Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson said on Tuesday it had sued Indian handset maker Micromax and its distributor for infringement of wireless patent rights.

Ericsson (Stockholm, Sweden) was confirming an earlier report in the Economic Times of India that it had sued after Micromax (Gurgaon, India) refused to sign license agreements for several wireless technologies.

"It is once again about FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms)," Ericsson spokeswoman Karin Hallstan said. She declined to comment further.

China's ZTE Corp, which helped bring the telephone to millions of homes during the Deng Xiaoping era, is counting on a new generation of tech-savvy smartphone users to drive at least $7.5 billion of 4G network projects and elevate its sagging fortunes.

Cisco Systems Inc must pay $70 million in damages to patent licenser XpertUniverse Inc for fraudulently obtaining technology developed by the New York company, a jury found on Friday, according to court filings.

The jury also found that Cisco (San Jose, CA, USA) violated two XpertUniverse (New York City, NY, USA) patents, and awarded an additional $34,000 in damages on those claims.

Cisco, the world's largest manufacturer of networking equipment, said it would appeal if the judge leaves the jury verdict intact.

Swedish telecoms gear maker Ericsson said on Wednesday it was confident it would win a patent infringement dispute with Samsung after the South Korean firm filed a counter-claim in a court in the United States.

Cut-throat competition between technology firms has spilled over into the courts in recent years as companies fight for market share and to recoup some of the billions of dollars they spend on research and development.

Deutsche Telekom is close to appointing Jefferies as second advisor for the sale of its online classified advertising unit Scout24, two sources close to the deal said.

The investment bank might work alongside Goldman Sachs, which Deutsche Telekom (Bonn, Germany) is also set to appoint, Reuters reported on Monday.

Europe's third-largest telecoms group behind Vodafone (Newbury, UK) and Telefonica (Madrid, Spain) said late last year that it would evaluate the options for Scout24 to free funds for other investments.

Deutsche Telekom and Jefferies declined to comment.

Large telecommunications companies and Internet providers succeeded in convincing an advisory panel that the U.S. government should not pursue enforcement of security measures meant to bolster their defenses against the growing threat of cyber attacks, according to a report released late on Monday.

India:

The 3rd World Smart Grid Conference India Week, which will be held on 10th-12th September, 2013 in New Delhi, India, is the largest Smart Grid event in India in 2013. In this conference, we bring together the brightest and most influential industry leaders all over the world under one roof. In short, we bring together people who make and will make a difference in this industry.

Las Vegas:

Now in its 6th year, the DAS & Small Cells Congress agenda addresses the business and technical challenges and opportunities, and attracts hundreds of senior-level attendees from wireless carriers, OEMs, system integrators, and a host of enterprise end-users from a variety of environments, including universities, sporting stadiums, healthcare, and hospitality.

Swedish network equipment maker Ericsson has signed a five-year deal to manage the networks of Atlantique Telecom, the African subsidiary of Middle Eastern telecoms giant Etisalat.

The contract will see Ericsson (Stockholm, Sweden) manage all of the mobile networks of Atlantique Telecom, which serves about 10 million customers in Benin, the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Niger and Togo.

Atlantique Telecom says the deal will allow it to focus on the development of value-added services and tailored offerings for its customers.

A U.S. judge and a Canadian judge agreed on Friday to a joint, simultaneous trial to decide how to divide $9 billion from the liquidation of Nortel Networks, overruling objections that the unusual arrangement would lead to "chaos."

Kevin Gross, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Wilmington, Delaware, told the parties on a conference call held jointly with a Canadian judge that the litigants should prepare for a trial late this year.