Nokia and Apple are continuing to butt heads over the nano-SIM standard with Apple proposing one standard and a consortium of Nokia, Motorola and RIM proposing another.

Now “The Verge” reports that Nokia is threatening the ETSI that it will refuse to license patents it holds that it believes to be essential to Apple’s proposal should that design be selected over its own, once again saying that the design simply “does not meet ETSI’s technical requirements and which would be inferior for consumers and the mobile industry, unnecessarily increasing the cost of mobile devices.”

“In practice, if Nokia won’t license patents — and they are, in fact, ruled essential to the standard — that means it could be more difficult or impossible for manufacturers to produce and use nano-SIMs within the framework of the law,” the article adds. For more info, go to http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/28/2908116/nokia-license-nano-sim-apple-etsi .

Meanwhile, Apple is offering royalty-free license to nano-SIM patents, a proposed standard backed by most European carriers, reports “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/Ppeuy).

Last week the “Financial Times” reported that Apple is competing with Motorola Mobility, Research in Motion and Nokia on a smaller SIM card standard.

Apple wants a “nano-SIM” that would let it design even smaller products, the article adds.The MicroSIM card, with a design smaller than traditional SIM cards, was pushed by Apple in 2010 with the launch of the iPhone 4.

However, a nano-SIM would shrink further — to about a third the size of the MicroSIM. Apple’s keen on adopting the new standard, but the other companies aren’t warm to Apple’s design proposals, per the “Financial Times.”

Apple’s royalty-free license offer shows the company “is serious about establishing the nano-SIM standard rather than seeking to cash in on it,” Florian Mueller writes for “FOSS Patents.” “Apple’s smart (card) move puts a lot of pressure on other companies in the industry,” he writes. “They can no longer claim that Apple will control this new standard, if it does become one, with its patent rights.”