Apple to 'Vigorously' Defend Itself in Nokia Lawsuit

[JonB3Z]

My prediction

I predict this will be settled out of court after some period of legal wrangling, with the settlement terms being determined by the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the cases as the legal wrangling reveals them.

After all, that's how most such cases end up.

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

I am big fan of Apple products but not so much of Apple itself - hope this makes sense and explains my opinion on this one...

 

[Stella]

"You guys are successful! We want some money too."

Nokia are successful too. They outsell Apple by far, even in smartphones. Nokia are the largest phone manufacturer in the world. I'd call that success.

So, Nokia are going through a tough period at the moment, but so have Apple ( gone through tough times), as does every company.

I'm very confident that Nokia can bounce back sooner rather than later.

The fact that Nokia haven't demanded that Apple remove its iPhone from sale ( they stated this explicitly ) says a lot about their motives, IMO - i.e., they are protecting their IP.

One thing is certain: lawyers will get rich!

 

[ChazUK]

Apple is getting sued, a new article gets posted that they are now going to vigorously defend themselves AS THEY SHOULD, but the article currently has more negatives than positives. Sometimes I wonder are these negatives from Windows fans or is it that people just want Apple to fail?

If Apple think they are above the rest of the mobile industry then they deserve scorn.

How and why would you spin patent infringement into a good thing?

 

[zombitronic]

Nokia was one of the key developers of the GSM standard.

Could you (or anyone else) point us to a citation? I'm having trouble finding enough info citing that Nokia was truly a "key" developer, at least to the extent that they should be twisting arms to get compensation out of anyone who uses the standard. There have been a large number of contributors. I can't find extensive evidence of their key contributions when I research the history of GSM. Some articles don't even mention Nokia. The best I can find is a quote from the press release on nokia.com stating that they're suing Apple. The quote states: "Nokia is a world leader in the development of GSM technologies and its evolution to UMTS / 3G WCDMA as well as wireless LAN, which is also demonstrated by Nokia's strong patent position in these technologies." Can anyone find a more specific (and non-biased) citation?

I'm just trying to get some facts.

 

[jaw04005]

To be fair, I know nothing of the Nokia patent. However, broad patents and technology patents in general have gotten out of control. I wish one of the big players (Microsoft, Apple, etc) would fight some of these patent lawsuits all the way to the top. Of course, then you need the Supreme Court, which nowadays appears reluctant to take on precedent setting cases, to actually do their job.

I’m surprised Nokia didn’t file this in the Eastern District of Texas. It appears to be haven for patent lawsuits (wonder why?).

 

[gnasher729]

If Apple think they are above the rest of the mobile industry then they deserve scorn.

How and why would you spin patent infringement into a good thing?

According to the article, "these patents are essential to one or more of the GSM, UMTS and 802.11 wireless communications standards, and that the Company (Apple) has the right to license these patents from plaintiff on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory ("FRAND") terms and conditions. "

This would be quite typical for patents that are needed to implement a standard; when everyone comes together to create a standard, there are usually many parties having relevant patents, and they all need to agree to terms like the ones quoted, or there will be no standard. I would assume that Apple has negotiated with Nokia, the terms that Nokia offered were not what Apple called "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory", and now Apple is suing.

I would think the result would be that some judge will decide what terms are "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" and both Apple and Nokia will have to agree to those terms.

 

[Stella]

To be fair, I know nothing of the Nokia patent. However, broad patents and technology patents in general have gotten out of control. I wish one of the big players (Microsoft, Apple, etc) would fight some of these patent lawsuits all the way to the top. Of course, then you need the Supreme Court, which nowadays appears reluctant to take on precedent setting cases, to actually do their job.

Apple themselves have some pretty broad patents too.. perhaps they'd like to give these up to help this cause.

 

[Morky]

Or, people don't like seeing Apple acting like they're somehow exempt from the rules.

Keep sucking on that kool aid.

As Cybbe touched on, Nokia are much more than a phone maker. They've been making network devices and technologies for years. Their patent book must be enormous.

The two of you must have detailed information about the case that no one else on the Internet has seen yet. Please post the details of Nokia's claim so that we can start analyzing the validity.

Seriously, the idea that Apple is just arrogantly saying "la la la, we don't have to pay attention to patents because we're Apple", is just plain silly. It's classic anti-appleism (or whatever we're calling the opposite of fanboyism), with no grounding in reality

 

[BongoBanger]

"Vigorously defend" means "negotiate" in lawyer speak.

 

[edesignuk]

The two of you must have detailed information about the case that no one else on the Internet has seen yet. Please post the details of Nokia's claim so that we can start analyzing the validity.

You know as much as I do. That is that [mostly] everyone else already pays up for the use of these patents (whatever they may be), Apple apparently refuse to play ball.

RIM (Blackberry) for example recently renewed their licensing of what are probably the same technologies with Nokia. RIM are a big company with big sales, evidently they don't think they're too important to just blindly ignore other peoples patents.

 

[Shivetya]

The point is that Apple has a pretty good idea that it can win the law suit or at least reduce the amount of money they owe Nokia (i.e. get a better settlement). Apple would have settled out of court if they believed otherwise.

Apple was in negotiations and Nokia got tired of waiting. Apple will lose. Bigger companies have licensed it, LG/Sony for example. Apple is still a bit player in the cellular market compared to the likes of Nokia, like 1% world wide versus nokia's 39%.

 

[themoonisdown09]

The two of you must have detailed information about the case that no one else on the Internet has seen yet. Please post the details of Nokia's claim so that we can start analyzing the validity.

Seriously, the idea that Apple is just arrogantly saying "la la la, we don't have to pay attention to patents because we're Apple", is just plain silly. It's classic anti-appleism (or whatever we're calling the opposite of fanboyism), with no grounding in reality

It looks like YOU must have detailed information about the case because it seems like you know that Apple, did in fact, infringe on Nokia's patents.

This is a never ending circle.

 

[Peace]

Apple themselves have some pretty broad patents too.. perhaps they'd like to give these up to help this cause.

That is the key to this lawsuit. "give these up to help this cause". Standards. I think Apple believes these "standards" have become so standard that they belong in the public domain and thusly not required to pay Nokia anything beyond a standard fee. Nokia may be asking for more.

Flimsy at best but Apple lawyers obviously think worth defending.

 

[CrackedButter]

There was once a company that held a frivolous patent on the automobile. Every automaker paid until stubborn ol' Henry Ford refused. The patent was demolished in court.

(Before you get the warm fuzzies for Henry Ford from that, by the way, remember that Adolph Hitler said his solution to certain perceived demographic problems was inspired by Henry Ford.)

Sometimes patents are simply invalid and should be ignored. Other times, well, Apple is not known for being shy... or understanding that laws apply to them, too. (Remember the old Beatles battle. Apple was probably not on the "right" side there.)

Tangent way off... and invoking Godwins Law? WOW!

 

[theloon]

Nokia heading down the same road as Nortel?

Desperate attempt from Nokia.... Will be fun to watch this one.

"go "

 

[FvL]

$1 billion is insane.
About 35 million iPhones have been sold if I remember it correctly, so that would be almost $30 of licensing costs per iPhone!

 

[the-oz-man]

"You guys are successful! We want some money too."

Another money grab . . .

 

[Amdahl]

$1 billion is insane.
About 35 million iPhones have been sold if I remember it correctly, so that would be almost $30 of licensing costs per iPhone!

I hope that doesn't screw up their Sarbanes-Oxley!

 

[seashellz]

the judge will toss it out of court for 'untimely filing' or 'nuisance filing' if there is such a term; if NOKIA had a leg to stand on-they would not have waited until 40-odd companies were "infringing" upon them;
Why did the others CAVE (if they did-on NOKIAs say so-could be a bluff "They all paid, ergo-so youd better pay too-dont be the holdout!") Maybe these "40 companies" dont exist except in NOKIAs starry eyed imaginings of a slice of iPhone profits;
THEY ALL paid up, on the spot, except APPLE huh? sounds mighty fishy TOO FISHY
Why would ALL of these 40 companies try to sneak around NOKIAs patent if it were valid? Most if not all would know better; They have people research these things
And of course, why does NOKIA wait until NOW?
There may be much more than meets the eye here
APPLE has decent counsel who would know whether to throw in the towel or not;
They know something-just like they have a reason for their not putting BR drives into their machines-they know something
WE MIGHT find out what patents are being "infringed upon"
Due to non disclosure we will never know IF or WHO paid up;
Scam o meter rating 95% against NOKIA
anyone know how well NOKIA is doing these days?

 

[z4n3]

4 words to sum up the comments here!!!

Blind leading the blind

 

[arkitect]

if NOKIA had a leg to stand on-they would not have waited until 40-odd companies were "infringing" upon them;

Why would ALL of these 40 companies try to sneak around NOKIAs patent if it were valid? Most if not all would know better
etcetera…

Okaaaay.
How about you read that paragraph again?

In its press release announcing the lawsuit, Nokia noted that approximately 40 other companies, including "virtually all the leading mobile device vendors," has licensed the intellectual property but that Apple and had refused to agree to "appropriate terms" for licensing.

You will see it is a tad different from your outraged interpretation.

 

[DipDog3]

Sue them back!

 

[jaredrou]

I doubt Apple will walk away victoriously from this. They'll probably settle for some odd millions.

 

[Kwill]

Cost to fight outweighs the risk of loss. Even if Apple spends 100 million for litigation, it's only 10 percent of the potential deficit. Plus, if Apple wins, it may countersue to regain its legal fees.

Nokia is biting the tail of dog, hoping for a settlement.