Mobile device maker Nokia announced on Oct. 22 that it had filed a complaint
against Apple in a U.S.
district court, alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes on 10 patents Nokia
holds for GSM, UMTS and WLAN standards.
"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who
contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual
property, which others then need to compensate for," Ilkka Rahnasto, vice
president of Nokia's legal and intellectual property division, said in a
statement.
Rahnasto continued, "Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By
refusing to agree [to] appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property,
Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation."
According to Nokia's statement, it has invested over $60 billion in R&D in
the last two decades, producing "one of the wireless industry's strongest
and broadest IPR portfolios, with over
10,000 patent families." Further, approximately 40 mobile device vendors
currently have licensing agreements with Nokia, "allowing the industry to
benefit from Nokia's innovation."
The 10 patents in the suit are said to relate to technologies that enable
devices to be compatible with more than one of the GSM, UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System) and WLAN standards. "The patents cover wireless
data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple
iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007," Nokia's
statement went on to say.
While Nokia
is the leading phone maker worldwide, it's been struggling financially for some
time. On Oct. 15 it announced that losses for the third quarter were 559
million Euro, or over $838 million, reflecting a loss of approximately 19.8
percent year over year.
Apple,
conversely, exceeded analyst predictions on Oct. 19 when it announced
fourth-quarter revenue of $9.87 billion. Over the quarter, Apple sold 3.05
million Macs and 7.4 million iPhones.
Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.
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