Apple Again Hits Back at Nokia in Patent Dispute

Bloomberg reports that Apple has struck back at Nokia again in the growing patent dispute between the two companies, filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking to prevent the import of mobile phones from Nokia. The move counters a similar request made to the ITC earlier this month by Nokia seeking to ban the import of "virtually all" Apple products.

"Nokia will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said by text message today. "However this does not alter the fact that Apple has failed to agree appropriate terms for using Nokia technology and has been seeking a free ride on Nokia's innovation since it shipped the first iPhone in 2007."

The dispute between the two companies began in October 2009 when Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple charging infringement of a number of its patents by the iPhone. Apple filed a countersuit in December alleging both that Nokia itself was infringing on Apple patents with its products and that Nokia was in effect holding Apple hostage in negotiations over the Nokia patents, demanding the right to iPhone-related intellectual property not deemed "essential" to industry standards.