Nokia-Qualcomm Patent Row Continues

May 29th, 2007

The battle between Nokia and Qualcomm over licensing and royalties moved into a new round Thursday, as Nokia announced it had filed “patent counter assertions” against Qualcomm. The action by the Finnish phone manufacturer, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, was filed in a Wisconsin court, and is a response to a Qualcomm patent-infringement lawsuit filed on April 2. Nokia said that its countersuit was for Qualcomm’s infringement of six Nokia patents used in Qualcomm’s GSM/WCDMA and CDMA2000 chipsets. The patents cited by Nokia entail technologies that allow roaming, and conversion technologies that affect handset and chipset size, cost, and power consumption. Nokia also reiterated that its products do not infringe on Qualcomm patents, and its suit seeks damages and an injunction against some Qualcomm chipsets.Raging Since 2001The dispute between the companies has been raging since a 2001 cross-licensing agreement expired earlier this year. Qualcomm has said it wants to renew that licensing deal, while Nokia has said it wants to reduce its payments. In April, when part of the agreement expired, a Nokia representative said that, without the agreement, “Qualcomm’s entire chipset business becomes exposed to Nokia’s extensive GSM, WCDMA, and CDMA patent portfolios.” Qualcomm’s general counsel had replied that the company didn’t believe it used any of Nokia’s patents. The legal fighting and complaints are all “part of the renegotiation” for their cross-licensing, said Charles Golvin, an analyst at industry research firm Forrester. The real battle, he said, is about the future, particularly wideband CDMA. (Wideband CDMA, or WCDMA, is a 3G protocol that supports broadband multimedia services such as video and video conferencing.)At the Heart of 3GWCDMA, Golvin said, is becoming the main standard for 3G phone transmission. Qualcomm currently holds a dominating position in CDMA patents, he noted, and has been accused of using that leverage

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Entry Filed under: Nokia