Nokia Sues Apple for Patent Infringement in Germany and the U.S. Following Licensing Disagreement [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Nokia today announced that it has filed several complaints against Apple in Germany and the United States, accusing the Cupertino company of infringing on Nokia patents.

Nokia's lawsuit stems from a disagreement between Apple and Nokia over licensing fees for Nokia technology. Apple this morning filed an antitrust lawsuit against several patent assertion entities that it claims are attempting to collect excessive fees for Nokia patents through lawsuits and royalty demands.

According to Apple, Nokia's failing cellphone business has prompted Nokia to transfer patents to patent assertion entities to get out of FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) licensing deals it established for essential patents, allowing the company to collect higher royalties. From Apple's complaint:

With its cell phone business dying, Nokia began to seek out willing conspirators and to commence its illegal patent transfer scheme in full force; that scheme has continued in full effect to the present. The driving force behind Nokia's strategy was to diffuse its patent portfolio and place it in the hands of PAEs. Acacia and Conversant were its chief conspirators.

Nokia's own patent infringement complaint against Apple claims that Apple has declined to establish licensing deals for Nokia technology that is used in Apple products.

Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Patent Business at Nokia, said: "Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today's mobile devices, including Apple products. After several years of negotiations trying to reach agreement to cover Apple's use of these patents, we are now taking action to defend our rights."

Nokia has filed lawsuits in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and Dusseldorf, Mannheim and Munich in Germany. The lawsuits cover 32 patents that cover technologies including display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets, and video coding. Nokia says additional actions are to come.

Update: Nokia today filed additional patent lawsuits against Apple in Asia, Europe, and the United States. As of today, Nokia has filed 40 patent suits in 11 countries.

Update 2: Apple is now suing Nokia itself as the legal battle continues to escalate. Apple has added Nokia Corporation, Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy, and Nokia Technologies Oy to the list of defendants in its aforementioned antitrust case against several patent assertion entities that have sued Apple over Nokia patents.

Article Link: Nokia Sues Apple for Patent Infringement in Germany and the U.S. Following Licensing Disagreement [Updated]

 

[now i see it]

First post here, so I'll make it quick.

Sue their theiving ass

 

[StayPuft]

Oh boy, more lawsuits.

 

[Col4bin]

Well, what else does NOKIA and FIH Mobile have to lose at this point?

 

[2457282]

Merry Christmas Scrooge!

 

[nt5672]

This will probably be Cook's next excuse for no Mac upgrades and innovations. They probably have the only 2 engineers that can work on Mac's working on this lawsuit.

 

[Saipher]

Well, you know what they say... "If you can't win, sue them!"

 

[dBeats]

Let me guess, the screen - it was COLOR. And you used a finger actuated pointing device to select embedded menus for the user to provide input to a computer program that was translated into little bits and sent via tiny wires to integrated circuits...and.....and it had an ear piece.....and a microphone, yeah....yeah a microphone, and a cell-u-lar radio transceiver from whence data bounced off a mesh of waypoints to provide bits of information to other cell-u-lar radios. This is a shoe-in, Nokia, you're gonna be RICH!

 

[iVoid]

Wait... if Nokia transferred the patents to a different company to get out of FRAND rules, why is Nokia suing Apple?

 

[admob71]

Let me guess, the screen - it was COLOR. And you used a finger actuated pointing device to select embedded menus for the user to provide input to a computer program that was translated into little bits and sent via tiny wires to integrated circuits...and.....and it had an ear piece.....and a microphone, yeah....yeah a microphone, and a cell-u-lar radio transceiver from whence data bounced off a mesh of waypoints to provide bits of information to other cell-u-lar radios. This is a shoe-in, Nokia, you're gonna be RICH!

I heard it was black and had rounded corners!!! CAN you believe the nerve of it..

 

[macTW]

First post here, so I'll make it quick.

Sue their theiving ass

Who sue who? Apple sue Nokia for allegedly trying to "steal" more than their royalties were decided for, or Nokia sue Apple for allegedly not paying what Nokia thinks they "should" be?

 

[mytdave]

Nokia who?

 

[CarlJ]

If what Apple says here pans out, Nokia is being pretty clearly evil - FRAND is used in a case where a standards body agrees to incorporate someone's patented tech into an official standard (rather than seeking a perhaps-not-as-good-but-patent-free alternative) in return for said company promising to charge only reasonable fees for the patent's use and not use the patents as a weapon against competitors. If Nokia is trying to get around that... boo!

 

[TMRJIJ]

Well, what else does NOKIA and FIH Mobile have to lose at this point?

Their dignities...
[doublepost=1482347323][/doublepost]I honestly forgotten this company even existed.

 

[Stella]

Nokia have a right to protect its patents, just like Apple has a right.

The courts will decide who is right.

 

[apolloa]

Waiting for the 'PATENT TROLL' posts from the utterly clueless followers, just like the Ericsson case...

 

[MaciMac100]

Nokia and all their subcompanies (Alcatel-Lucent etc.) has huge array of patents in mobile technology, Apple shouldn't go to court with them unless they want to end up paying to Nokia like last time.

 

[coolfactor]

First post here, so I'll make it quick.

Sue their theiving ass

Sue Apple's ass? Why are you here exactly?

 

[AlphaAnt]

Wait... if Nokia transferred the patents to a different company to get out of FRAND rules, why is Nokia suing Apple?

Nokia is suing Apple because Apple isn't paying licensing fees for the patents they're using, even though Apple isn't paying because they don't believe FRAND is occurring and has an open lawsuit. Basically, Nokia is looking to have a judge force Apple to pay the fees even though there's an open lawsuit about the price.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Well, you know what they say... "If you can't win, sue them!"

Which lawsuit are you referring to? The one Apple filed against Nokia this morning? Or the one Nokia filed against Apple this afternoon?

 

[AlphaAnt]

Nokia have a right to protect its patents, just like Apple has a right.

The courts will decide who is right.

Except they're not Nokia's patents anymore. They offloaded them to a third party who isn't bound by the FRAND rules of the previous arrangement with Apple just so they could skyrocket the price without reneging on the deal. And now they're suing because Apple refuses to go along with their scheme and just pay the now-higher fees.

 

[dk001]

Interesting. Very interesting.

 

[Stella]

Well, you know what they say... "If you can't win, sue them!"

People say that blindly on most apple sites when the lawsuit is against Apple, even when there is merit, sadly.

Nokia aren't competiting against Apple so I'm not sure how Nokia are 'losing against Apple'.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

Of course, Texas

Nokia have a right to protect its patents, just like Apple has a right.

The courts will decide who is right.

Not if it's US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. They approve everything over there in regards to patent lawsuits because it puts them on the map.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I have real issue to be concered about.