Chinese telecommunications hardware maker ZTE Corp on Monday filed a lawsuit in China against a unit of its Swedish rival Telefon AB LM Ericsson over alleged patent infringement, said Wang Haibo, ZTE's intellectual-property director.

ZTE's suit against Ericsson (China) Communications Co alleges Ericsson products sold in the country violated ZTE patents covering core networks, global system for mobile communications, and fourth-generation mobile technology, and asks that the company be ordered to cease the infringement and pay unspecified damages, said Wang.

He said the number of ZTE patents in the case is "less than 10" and declined to say in which court ZTE had filed the suit.