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Apple's Nokia Deal Could Cost Android Manufacturers Too

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,516
30,793



Apple's patent licensing deal with Nokia may have some additional consequences beyond the immediate effects of the settlement. By agreeing to a long-term licensing agreement with Nokia, Apple gets a lengthly, defensive legal fight out of the way. This allows Apple to focus all its legal energies on major battles with Samsung, HTC and Motorola.

Speaking with the NYTimes, Apple indicates that the settlement is actually a cross-licensing one:
Apple and Nokia have agreed to drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a license covering some of each other’s patents, but not the majority of the innovation that makes the iPhone unique. We are glad to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses.
Click to expand...
There a larger, much more strategic victory here as well. By agreeing to pay royalties for Nokia's patents, Apple has set a market price -- and given Nokia's patents serious legitimacy. Apple wouldn't pay anything if they didn't have to, and other companies may not want to fight over turf Apple has already acquiesced to Nokia.

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Other companies, notably Android handset manufacturers, may now have to play ball with Nokia on these patents -- and they don't necessarily have the margins to send 1% of gross revenues to Nokia as easily as Apple can. In fact, because Apple has so many of its own patents (some of which it cross-licensed to Nokia) other manufacturers may have to pay even more for the same licenses.

Florian Mueller has suggested just that at FOSS Patents:
Given that Android is in many ways a rip-off of Apple's operating software, Android-based devices are highly likely to infringe on largely the same Nokia patents that Apple now felt forced to pay for.
[...]
This is a sweet defeat for Apple because its competitors -- especially those building Android-based devices -- will also have to pay Nokia, and most if not all of them will likely have to pay more on a per-unit basis because they don't bring as much intellectual property to the table as Apple definitely did.
Click to expand...
Apple pays off Nokia, but exposes the competition as well. Competition that doesn't have as much money or intellectual property to barter with.

(Photo by Acaben/Flickr)

Article Link: Apple's Nokia Deal Could Cost Android Manufacturers Too
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/14/apples-nokia-deal-could-cost-android-manufacturers-too/
parapup

parapup

macrumors 65816
Oct 31, 2006
1,291
49
If Florian Mueller said something there is a good chance it is some baseless, inflammable, not-real thing that has great likelihood of not happening.

Moving right along.

[ Apple and their followers are like insecure kids - if they get beat up, instead of either accepting or responding they drag that other cool kid in it for no reason but to feel better - look tomorrow that other kid might get beat too - then I will be vindicated.]
 
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Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
nice headline grabbing BS by our media. It is safe to bet that the other manufactures were already paying the for the patents. I know LG, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and Blackberry already have an agreement with them and most of them have patents sharing with Nokia.

I love the piss poor reporting the media does.
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
Rodimus Prime said:
nice headline grabbing BS by our media. It is safe to bet that the other manufactures were already paying the for the patents. I know LG, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and Blackberry already have an agreement with them and most of them have patents sharing with Nokia.

I love the piss poor reporting the media does.
Click to expand...

Amen to this. Other OEMs have been making phones way before Apple even came up with the idea of iPhone. They have already settled with Nokia and are paying the license fees, so why would this hurt Android?
 
ratzzo

ratzzo

macrumors 6502a
Apr 20, 2011
829
35
Madrid
It could. It probably may never happen, but if it does, Apple's "surrendering" to Nokia's lawsuit would just add to Nokia's side of the story for anyone who shares a lawsuit regarding whatever patent Apple and Nokia were originally arguing over.
 
Oletros

Oletros

macrumors 603
Jul 27, 2009
6,002
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Florian on Twitter was incapable of telling why those companies would have to pay and why has been making phones since the 90's without any problem.
 
S

supmango

macrumors 6502
Feb 17, 2008
413
0
From the same article:

“Having proven its ability to defeat Apple after the most bitterly contested patent dispute that this industry has seen to date is clear proof of” the effectiveness of Nokia's more aggressive strategy, Mr. Mueller said. “Other companies whom Nokia will ask to pay royalties will have to think very hard whether to pay or pick a fight."

So it sounds like to me, Nokia just became the school yard bully.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,782
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The "winner" of a cross-licensing deal, if you want to think of it that way, is the one who gets paid, in this case Nokia. I doubt that Apple has had trouble because its lawyers are spread too thin, but the settlement is presumably worth it to Apple. They may have expected to owe these same licensing payments anyway as a result of the lawsuits.

It's best for our interests as consumers if companies have strong reasons to do the R&D for new developments, with rights to their patents being one of their incentives. But it's also in our interests to see new developments used in many products, which can result from cross-licensing and even from patent infringement! Somebody (us) ultimately has to pay for it, of course, but I'd rather pay for R&D than for court battles.
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
The only way this even "hurts" android and others is they have to keep paying the fees they have been paying any how.

oh wait that does nothing to them and it is status quo. If Apple had won it would of done some good so to speak because they would no longer have to license them.
 
Consultant

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
And Android still has to face the Java lawsuit that might wipe them out.

I am sure many people can't wait.
 
ChazUK

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-gb; Nexus S Build/GRJ22) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

This is fantastic news!

Hit Bada and WebOS whilst they're at it.

Edit: I am being sarcastic btw.
 
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Mattie Num Nums

Mattie Num Nums

macrumors 68030
Mar 5, 2009
2,834
0
USA
Oletros said:
Florian on Twitter was incapable of telling why those companies would have to pay and why has been making phones since the 90's without any problem.
Click to expand...

Florian Mueller has been proven in the past to publish BS information. I take anything he says for a grain of salt.
 
J

Just "Vinnie"

macrumors member
May 5, 2011
78
0
supmango said:
So it sounds like to me, Nokia just became the school yard bully.
Click to expand...

Yeah, right. And Apple was the poor weak nerdy kid with glasses. LOL!

Apple has a tendency to innovate without researching whether it's already been "innovated" by somebody else already.
 
Jeaz

Jeaz

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2009
678
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Sweden
Makes more sense that it's cross-licenense and not as suggested by all media this morning that it's all Apple -> Nokia.
 
J

juicedropsdeuce

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2010
327
0
Ok, what gives here. Is this some stock pump article by MR????

First the false report that Android makers will have to pay Nokia (they already license the patent). Next, showing a completely unrelated picture of a 'fat' Steve Jobs which was obviously from half a decade ago.

Real classy! :rolleyes:
 
M

mdatwood

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2010
914
889
East Coast, USA
Consultant said:
And Android still has to face the Java lawsuit that might wipe them out.

I am sure many people can't wait.
Click to expand...

That's like saying Nokia was going wipe out the iPhone, ie never would happen. There is too much money going around and in the end someone will pay someone else and Android will go on.
 
R

rmwebs

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2007
3,140
0
Consultant said:
And Android still has to face the Java lawsuit that might wipe them out.

I am sure many people can't wait.
Click to expand...

I guess you'd be all for an Apple dictatorship over the market wouldn't you. Are you sure you're a consultant? :rolleyes:
 
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