Nokia files suit against Apple in US, Germany over iPhone's alleged violation of 32 patents

AppleInsider

Nokia announced on Wednesday that it has filed a number of complaints against Apple in Germany and the U.S., alleging that despite a 2011 omnibus patent licensing deal, a variety of Apple products including the iPhone and iPad infringe a number of newly acquired Nokia patents.

In a statement on the matter, Nokia claims that two big patent portfolio deals, one in 2013, and the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent's patent portfolio in 2016 led to the suit. Apple is said to have refuted all of Nokia's offers since a 2011 deal to further license Nokia-owned technologies in "many" of Apple's products.

The complaint texts are not yet available. The suits have been filed with the Regional Courts in Dusseldorf, Mannheim, and Munich in Germany. The U.S. actions have been filed with the "rocket docket" in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Nokia notes that the 32 patents alleged to have been violated span "display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets, and video coding." More actions are said to be forthcoming in other jurisdictions.

In 2009 and 2010, Nokia filed several suits against Apple over iPhone-related patents covering GSM, camera subsystems, and touch input. In 2010, Apple responded with a defensive suit, spanning 13 patents. The two companies settled in 2011, with Apple ending up paying royalties for a cross-license of patents.

Apple also battled Alcatel-Lucent around the same time, where the Paris-based company claimed Apple and LG copied intellectual property related to efficient data transmission technologies used in video transmission.

When Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent, the company claimed that the deal was aimed at "enabling the next wave of technological change, including the Internet of Things and transition to the cloud."

rotateleftbyte

Eastern District of Texas?
I guess that Nokia has transitioned all right. Into a Paten Troll aka NPE.

Rather a shame that a once proud company has resorted to this.

Oh well, that will keep the teams of lawyers tied up for the next .... 5 to 10 years.
Oh to be a company lawyer. A job for life as long as your company does not get taken over or go out of business.

lkrupp

https://www.thestreet.com/story/13934107/1/apple-steps-up-its-war-on-patent-troll-alleges-conspiracy-with-nokia.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo

And Apple has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against two patent trolls alleging collusion and conspiracy with Nokia. Get out the beer and popcorn and take a seat in your lawn chair. The show is just starting.

Nokia failed miserably in the mobile market so what do they do now? Become a patent troll of course. And in the patent troll capital of the world, East Texas, no less.

slprescott

So this is Nokia's turnaround strategy?  Suing competitors?

tshapi

I don't see this going anywhere. If the former owner declined to sue over these patents then wh Does Nokia have a basis to do the same? 

baconstang

So is this actually Nokia suing Apple, or a desperate MS?

volcan

They had the perfect opportunity to transition into autonomous vehicles with their mapping assets but they sold them to the German car makers so now they have nothing, well except licensing their name to Chinese discount phone manufacturers. This lawsuit is just the last effort to extract any remaining value before they shutter it as AI would probably write.

gatorguy

baconstang said:

So is this actually Nokia suing Apple, or a desperate MS?

Zero to do with Microsoft. 

dorkus maximus

I don't understand why Apple doesn't buy these patent portfolios when they can. At a minimum it keeps Apple out of court. Beyond that it could give Apple something to build on (either through licensing or product development) or even a cudgel with which Apple could beat on other companies for a change. I don't advocate Apple patent trolling other companies; but if an Apple-owned patent can be used as leverage in a cross-licensing deal, why not?

I'd be happy to see Apple drop a few (billion) bucks on patents just to keep itself out of headlines that further the myth that Apple doesn't innovate but only steals tech from others.

maestro64

I beginning to think that Apple is the only company who is actually shipping products with all the great ideas, We have all these companies who supposedly came up with great ideas but could not seem to make a product out of them so they now sue Apple. These company obviously spend way too much time and money working on ideas but forgot about making good product thus the reason they all out of business these days.

adamc

dorkus maximus said:

I don't understand why Apple doesn't buy these patent portfolios when they can. At a minimum it keeps Apple out of court. Beyond that it could give Apple something to build on (either through licensing or product development) or even a cudgel with which Apple could beat on other companies for a change. I don't advocate Apple patent trolling other companies; but if an Apple-owned patent can be used as leverage in a cross-licensing deal, why not?

I'd be happy to see Apple drop a few (billion) bucks on patents just to keep itself out of headlines that further the myth that Apple doesn't innovate but only steals tech from others.

These patents belonged to Nokia and I doubt they are for sale. And when they sold off their phone division to MS that didn't include their patents and now we know why i.e. they have every intention to be an NPE.

VernonDozier

rotateleftbyte said:

Eastern District of Texas?
I guess that Nokia has transitioned all right. Into a Paten Troll aka NPE.

Rather a shame that a once proud company has resorted to this.

Oh well, that will keep the teams of lawyers tied up for the next .... 5 to 10 years.
Oh to be a company lawyer. A job for life as long as your company does not get taken over or go out of business.

Well, technically, Nokia has a sales office in Texas... Plus, if memory serves me correctly, Nokia manufactured phones somewhere in Texas as well. Companies and people are free to file a complaint anywhere... But Nokia actually performs business in Texas.

VernonDozier

adamc said:

dorkus maximus said:

I don't understand why Apple doesn't buy these patent portfolios when they can. At a minimum it keeps Apple out of court. Beyond that it could give Apple something to build on (either through licensing or product development) or even a cudgel with which Apple could beat on other companies for a change. I don't advocate Apple patent trolling other companies; but if an Apple-owned patent can be used as leverage in a cross-licensing deal, why not?

I'd be happy to see Apple drop a few (billion) bucks on patents just to keep itself out of headlines that further the myth that Apple doesn't innovate but only steals tech from others.

These patents belonged to Nokia and I doubt they are for sale. And when they sold off their phone division to MS that didn't include their patents and now we know why i.e. they have every intention to be an NPE.

Well, Nokia was well known for investing nearly 25% of its Gross revenue into R&D.  They have a lot of pull in the wireless industry.  When Apple makes a change like using a Qualcomm Modem (which pays royalties to virtually every wireless technology firm) to a cheaper Intel modem (Intel bought their way into Wireless through acquiring Infineon) then patent royalties need to be paid. 

I remember back in 1999 that Nokia had developed (with Visa) a way to perform payments using a phone.  If memory serves me right, it required a second SIM card for the VISA account (likely very similar to what Apple calls a "Secure Enclave" today), and other technology to process payments over a wireless connection.  

So It's entirely possible that now that Steve Jobs is gone, Apple has run out of ideas.  And to build new features into phones and devices, which no one has asked for and you didn't know you needed.  But without a roadmap for features, (much less Quality Checking) patents which Nokia has filed must "inspire" Apple to start up their Xerox machines.

jfanning

volcan said:

They had the perfect opportunity to transition into autonomous vehicles with their mapping assets but they sold them to the German car makers so now they have nothing, well except licensing their name to Chinese discount phone manufacturers. This lawsuit is just the last effort to extract any remaining value before they shutter it as AI would probably write.

They have nothing?  Are you ignorant, or just trying to take the micky?

evilution

Anyone else remember another company in the 90's and early 00's called Nokia? They used to make phones and had a massive market lead but then flittered it all away by releasing 100 phones a year, none of them having anything new from the 100 phones released the year before.

jfanning

evilution said:

Anyone else remember another company in the 90's and early 00's called Nokia? They used to make phones and had a massive market lead but then flittered it all away by releasing 100 phones a year, none of them having anything new from the 100 phones released the year before.

I remember them, they are one of the largest network companys around, they are one of the pioneers that built the technology Apple needs to make money