Nokia is the world’s largest supplies of mobile phones, but from being in complete domination on the smartphone market it now “only” holds around 50 percent of said market, and the reason is iPhone. Apple has managed to grab 14 percent of the smartphone market, but Nokia has decided to sue the competitor for infringements on ten occasions since the launch of iPhone in 2007. The ten patents that Nokia holds covers standards like WLAN, GSM and UMTS.
Nokia says that it spent nearly 40 billion Euro on Research & Development over the last two decades on technology and patents on the mobile phone market. Investments it now claims Apple is trying to piggyback on by using technology that infringes on Nokia patents. Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia, says the following in the official press release;
“The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for”
Nokia says that it has license agreements with 40 or so companies on these patents for wireless communication and now says that Apple is the only one trying to escape from paying. Apple has not commented on Nokia’s suit, but analysts suggest that this is simply negotiations that has taken a turn for the worse.
Since Apple has used technology covered by these patents since 2007 it is mist likely the negotiations on the license fees that has stranded and Nokia have no choice but to take measures to speed things up.
