Ericsson filed a lawsuit against Samsung claiming its infrastructure rival violated contracts for “good faith” negotiations on patent terms and conditions. Ericsson said the issue could cost it up to $177 million in operating income per quarter beginning next year.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, specifically cites Samsung as violating contractual commitments to negotiate on license patents on “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms and conditions.” FRAND is often the basis for voluntary licensing terms on intellectual property (IP).

Ericsson claims that Samsung has violated those terms while the Swedish-based vendor has upheld its end of that commitment.

A Samsung spokesperson told Bloomberg News that it would review the complaint and “determine an appropriate response.”

In terms of the financial impact, Ericsson said that license renewal negotiations could delay IP royalty payments if they expire. It would then expect to receive in influx of those payments once a new licensing agreement is made. The vendor banked $642 million in profit on almost $6.6 billion in revenue during its most recent fiscal quarter.

During an investor presentation last month, Ericsson’s management cited third-party research that found the vendor was the largest contributor to standard essential 5G patents, followed (in order) by Samsung, Qualcomm, Nokia, Huawei, LG, ZTE, Intel, and Sharp.

A recent Dell’Oro Group report had Ericsson as the world’s No. 3 supplier of telecommunications equipment with 14% of the market at the end of Q3. Huawei remained the market’s largest player with 30% of the market, followed by Nokia at 15%. Samsung was a distant No. 7 with just 2% of the market.

Ericsson last year was itself on the receiving end of patent licensing lawsuit filed by China’s antitrust regulators on behalf of Chinese mobile phone makers. The action was lodged by the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and included a raid on Ericsson’s offices in Beijing.

Ericsson at that time explained in an email to SDxCentral that it adheres to the generally accepted FRAND licensing models. “At Ericsson, we license our industry leading patent portfolio on FRAND terms and conditions and have always been committed to these FRAND principles,” the vendor wrote.