Nokia says it’s signed a patent license agreement with Apple to settle a long-running legal battle. The agreement will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia and Apple of their respective complaints to the US International Trade Commission.
The financial structure of the agreement consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple and on-going royalties to be paid by Apple to Nokia for the term of the agreement. The specific terms of the contract are confidential.
“We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,” Stephen Elop, president and CEO of Nokia, said in a press release. “This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.”
As part of the deal, the two sides are licensing some, but not all of each other’s patents. Nokia first sued Apple in 2009 over fundamental cellphone technology patents and the two companies have been at war ever since.
In March, Nokia filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Apple infringes additional Nokia patents in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, tablets and computers. This second ITC complaint followed the initial determination in Nokia’s earlier ITC filing, announced by the ITC on March 25.
In addition to the two ITC complaints, Nokia had filed cases on the same patents and others in Delaware, US and had further cases set to proceed in Mannheim, Dusseldorf and the Federal Patent Court in Germany, the UK High Court in London and the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands.
Along the way, Apple filed a countersuit claiming that Nokia infringed 13 Apple patents.
— Dennis Sellers