The U.S. International Trade Commission has decided to investigate whether Ericsson has infringed Samsung Electronics patents related to wireless communication equipment, the agency said Friday.

Samsung filed the so-called section 337 complaint against Ericsson with the U.S. International Trade Commission on December 21, 2012.

Samsung is seeking a USITC order blocking Ericsson from importing some products into the U.S.

Ericsson said it had filed multiple patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung in November after Samsung had refused to license Ericsson's patents on the same fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms that its competitors have accepted.

Ericsson has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in November. In those lawsuits, Ericsson asked the court to block sales of a variety of Samsung Electronics cameras, Blu-ray Disc players, televisions and phones, including the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II.