The United States International Trade Commission has launched an investigation into an allegation that Samsung Electronics violated a patent related to LTE devices.

According to the ITC on Tuesday in the US, the commission voted to institute an investigation of certain LTE-compliant cellular communication devices sold by Samsung and Motorola.

The complaint was filed by Austin-based communication device company Evolved Wireless last month.

The US firm claimed the importation into the US and sale of the devices violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, the commission said.

Section 337 stipulates the ITC can ban imports of products that infringe on patents owned by others or that involve unfair trade practices.

“The USITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time,” the institute said.

The US organization will set a target date for completing the probe within 45 days after the institution of the investigation.

The ITC is also looking into another allegation filed by Ericsson, which asserted Samsung has infringed on the Swedish firm’s patents related to certain cellular communications infrastructure systems, components thereof and products containing them.

Samsung has been boosting its network equipment business, eyeing the 5G market.

In the US, the Korean company has worked for over 20 years to expand its supply of fourth-generation LTE and 5G equipment.

As of 2018, Samsung claimed a mere 5 percent of the telecom equipment market, far behind Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia.

Samsung sought to expand its market share by clinching a deal with India‘s largest mobile carrier Jio Reliance in 2012 and completed the nationwide LTE network infrastructure as a sole equipment supplier in the country with a goal of providing 4G LTE services for over 90 percent of the Indian population.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)