Nokia sues Apple over alleged patent infringements in iPad 3G, iPhone

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Nokia announced Friday that it had filed yet another lawsuit against Apple, this time time alleging that both the iPhone and iPad 3G infringe on five patents owned by the Finnish phone maker.



According to Nokia, the patents involved in the suit, filed in the Federal District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin, are related to enhanced speech and data transmission. The technology uses positioning data in applications and new antenna configurations to improve performance and save space within the hardware, allowing for smaller devices.



"Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in mobile devices" said Paul Melin, General Manager, Patent Licensing at Nokia. "We have taken this step to protect the results of our pioneering development and to put an end to continued unlawful use of Nokia's innovation."



Nokia noted that it has invested about 40 billion euros in research and development in the last two decades. It said it has one of the industry's "strongest and broadest" patent portfolios, with more than 11,000 patent families.



Friday's announcement is the fourth complaint Nokia has lodged against Apple dating back to late 2009. Nokia first sued Apple last October, accusing the iPhone maker of infringing on patented wireless standards related to GSM and wireless LAN. Then in December, it filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, claiming that Apple has been infringing on patents with the iPhone, its line of iPads, and MacBooks.



In January, a third lawsuit alleged that Apple infringed on several "implementation patents." Filed in a federal court in Delaware, it addressed the same products cited in the ITC suit.



For its part, Apple filed a countersuit against Nokia last December, accusing the Finnish company of infringing on its own list of patents.



In January, Nokia's ITC complaint was accepted for investigation, considered a formality with such a high-profile case. The ITC also agreed to investigate Apple over Nokia's claims.



Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray has said he believes Nokia seeks a 1 percent to 2 percent royalty on every iPhone sold. That would amount to about $6 to $12 per handset in compensation for intellectual properties related go GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68
    So the CEO, under extreme pressure from shareholders to step down, gets a vote of confidence by the BOD and this is a part of his plan to bring Nokia back to prominence? I understand that these types of lawsuits are but one aspect of a strategy and that anything that can potentially slow Apple down is good for Nokia, but this seems to be indicative of the rather sad state of affairs in their leadership. If you can't beat'em on the playground, tell the teacher that they're cheating and hope the teacher helps you in some way.



    If I were a Nokia shareholder, I'd be selling right about now.
  • Reply 2 of 68
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em.
  • Reply 3 of 68
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    This story just about explains the utter inability of this once-great company to compete against Apple: http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-update2-.html



    It's no wonder they have to resort to such tactics.
  • Reply 4 of 68
    nice to have some double standards here. Hey, Apple how is that lawsuit towards HTC doing ?
  • Reply 5 of 68
    javacowboyjavacowboy Posts: 864member
    Apple isn't licensing that tech from Nokia even though everybody else in the industry is. These aren't software patents but patents on real physical technology.



    On the other hand, Nokia has refused to license the tech to apple on the same reasonable, non-discriminatory terms as everybody else. They want access to some of Apple's valuable patents, one that Apple really doesn't want to license.



    This is the issue. Hopefully the courts and the ITC will be smart enough to figure it out.
  • Reply 6 of 68
    pslicepslice Posts: 151member
    I just wonder if Edison, et al, has sued the makers of those inventors/companies that have improved the light bulb.... Nokia is struggling to survive.
  • Reply 7 of 68
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ricardo Dawkins View Post


    nice to have some double standards here. Hey, Apple how is that lawsuit towards HTC doing ?



    You need to inform yourself a bit more. See #6 above.
  • Reply 8 of 68
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ricardo Dawkins View Post


    nice to have some double standards here. Hey, Apple how is that lawsuit towards HTC doing ?



    What are you talking about?

    Nokia thinks a company has violated their patents, and is suing them.

    Apple thinks a company has violated their patents, and is suing them.



    Looks like a single standard to me.

    Please explain?
  • Reply 9 of 68
    Anybody seen the actual complaint? Must be some way to get the court filing papers.



    Katie Marsal can you get the text of complaint?
  • Reply 10 of 68
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,069member
    innovate. innovate. innovate.
  • Reply 11 of 68
    Why is this even news? Being that the iPad 3G was recently released it is only natural that Nokia include the iPad. My God, it is not that hard to figure out.
  • Reply 12 of 68
    spicedspiced Posts: 98member
    Stop all the crap about suing! Nokia, for that matter some others too, look at your own creation is it up to usable, reliable and loved by your users. If not you lost the creditability. So what good if you have chest load of patents and they aren't put to good use. Go back to your labs and come clean with a game changer to better iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, then you talk about your patents.
  • Reply 13 of 68
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    Terrible company is terrible company, if you can't innovate and stay relevant, you break out the attorneys and start meaningless lawsuits. What horrible leadership Nokia has, no wonder they're a dying company that will soon be relegated to bargain basement hardware/services.
  • Reply 14 of 68
    foo2foo2 Posts: 1,077member
    Hah! Nokia's got Apple now! Ordinarily Apple would counter sue and the two parties would settle, but Nokia has done diddly-squat for years now--nothing to be sued for. This should be very profitable... for the attorneys.

    /sarcasm
  • Reply 15 of 68
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    If their patent chest is so broad in scope, why are their products so horrible? why aren't they making game changing products like Apple?
  • Reply 16 of 68
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by isaidso View Post


    What are you talking about?

    Nokia thinks a company has violated their patents, and is suing them.

    Apple thinks a company has violated their patents, and is suing them.



    Looks like a single standard to me.

    Please explain?



    What you're ignoring - even though it has been pointed out to you - is that Nokia is part of a consortium which requires reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing of their patents. They are asking Apple to pay a much higher fee than they charge anyone else - which is a violation of that agreement. Furthermore, they are insisting that Apple license some non-related patents - even though Apple has never agreed to reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing.



    In effect, by participating in the consortium, Nokia no longer has the right to demand what they're asking.



    Apple never licensed their iPhone technology to anyone and allege that HTC stole it. Apple certainly has the right to try to prove that.
  • Reply 17 of 68
    jukesjukes Posts: 213member
    Everyone who builds a cell phone almost certainly needs to license patents that Nokia owns.



    Apple just doesn't want to pay what Nokia is asking. They tried to intimidate Nokia with a countersuit based on Nokia's use of patents that Apple owns, but in the long term I expect that Apple won't be able to sell _any_ phones if they don't license Nokia's technology. Nokia may not be able to sell phones with multi-touch, but they might not care.



    At this point they're just going to find out if the various patents in question are valid, they've probably not been litigated before. Once that's done, they'll revisit licensing---a discussion they're probably continuing regardless of the lawsuits.
  • Reply 18 of 68
    jahonenjahonen Posts: 364member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    What you're ignoring - even though it has been pointed out to you - is that Nokia is part of a consortium which requires reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing of their patents. They are asking Apple to pay a much higher fee than they charge anyone else - which is a violation of that agreement. Furthermore, they are insisting that Apple license some non-related patents - even though Apple has never agreed to reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing.



    And you are ignoring that that is what Apple says (in their countercomplaint to be exact). So far without a shed of proof. Kind of "he said, she said". And you believe them? And not the other company in question? Fanboyism is fine but believing what any company says blindly is kind of silly.



    F/RAND also means two different things in GSM/3G licensing in N.America/Europe than what it means in Asia. Could it be that Nokia wants NAM/Europe prices (like every NAM/European company pays) and Apple wants Asian prices? That would easily explain the conflicting statements. They would both be correct in a sense.



    We'll only know if this a) ever goes to court b) isn't settled outside of court and c) documents are made public.



    Regs, Jarkko
  • Reply 19 of 68
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jukes View Post


    Everyone who builds a cell phone almost certainly needs to license patents that Nokia owns.



    Apple just doesn't want to pay what Nokia is asking.



    How many times do you need to be told?



    Nokia is required to charge everyone the same license fees but they want MORE from Apple. Apple agreed to pay what Nokia charges everyone else and Nokia refused.
  • Reply 20 of 68
    saltwatersaltwater Posts: 50member
    Humm, guess you need to do your homework also before giving those remarks! US loves patents, as so they have to respect them!
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