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Apple Licenses Nokia Patents, Ending Lawsuits

Monday June 13, 2011 11:19 pm PDT by Arnold Kim

Reuters and Engadget report that Nokia has entered into a patent license agreement with Apple. From the press release:
Nokia announced that it has signed a patent license agreement with Apple. 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.
Nokia first filed a patent suit against Apple in October 2009 and the dispute has escalated since then with the two companies filing multiple new claims against each other. This should end one of the Apple's biggest patent disputes, but many others remain active.

While FOSS Patents sees this as a clear win for Nokia, they also suggest it may help Apple a bit as Android manufacturers are likely to also be affected.
Nokia emerges victorious, but this is a sweet defeat for Apple because its competitors -- especially those building Android-based devices -- will also have to pay Nokia, and most if not all of them will likely have to pay more on a per-unit basis because they don't bring as much intellectual property to the table as Apple definitely did.


[ 140 comments ]


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Bonte
100 months ago
If MS buys Nokia Apple would not need to pay a fee, maybe something is up.

Apple always wanted to pay, the dispute was about the price of the royalties.
Rating: 11 Votes
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twilson
100 months ago

I am glad we agree that Apple "borrowed" a lot of Nokia creations and not vice versa. It is indicative that cross-licensing agreement is not part of this deal. Apparently Nokia did not find anything they would need to patent from Apple.


Stop all the blind trolling, and open your eyes. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE A PHONE USING THE GSM STANDARD WITHOUT NEEDING TO LICENSE NOKIA'S PATENTS IN QUESTION!

That's why Nokia MUST offer "Fair, Reasonable and NON-DISCRIMNATORY" terms To these patents (something they were trying to avoid when licensing to Apple).
Rating: 9 Votes
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inkswamp
100 months ago

Yes, Apple's patents were so strong that they (Apple) decided to pay Nokia. Did I get it right?


Not quite but then again, you're not really trying very hard. The first step is to follow these things from the start. You haven't been following this story, have you?

Here's the basic rundown. Nokia wanted to charge Apple exorbitant fees for the use of some patents, much more than they were charging other licensees. Apple demanded that they charge a fair price and refused to pay. Nokia sues, Apple countersues... and then suddenly all lawsuits are gone and Apple is licensing Nokia's patents.

Now logically, what do you think happened behind-the-scenes? This probably isn't a win for either side. Nokia probably caved on their fees and Apple agreed to license the patents at a fair price and drop their counter-suits.

You have a better take on this? I doubt it but I'd love to hear it.
Rating: 8 Votes
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NoNothing
100 months ago
Ahhh... The Apple hater...

OK, so Apple therefore admitted that they were wrong. Now lets hear from LTDs of this forum how they are going to spin this. They have been claiming all along that Apple was the "innovator" here and Nokia was in the wrong.


I don't think anyone said that. Apple just wanted the same "fair and reasonable" rates others got. I don't think anybody assumed Apple was not going to pay for the use of the tech.
Rating: 7 Votes
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NoNothing
100 months ago
Show us the money!!!

It appears that there has never been the case where Apple would be able to sue someone in court for use of their patent and win. Their patents usually get invalidated by courts because of prior arts or being too obvious.


I can show you one that proves you 100% wrong.
Rating: 6 Votes
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teknishn
100 months ago

And you know this because


Try actually reading the lawsuits. Simple case of Apple needing to license gsm patents that Nokia is legally obligated to license at fair price. Apple simply didn't want to pay more than HTC, Samsung, Motorola etc etc. The issue has been resolved in a pretty obvious manner. Sometimes it takes a lot of arm waving to get the right deal done.... Such as this case. End of the day it's really business as usual.
Rating: 5 Votes
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lilo777
100 months ago
OK, so Apple therefore admitted that they were wrong. Now lets hear from LTDs of this forum how they are going to spin this. They have been claiming all along that Apple was the "innovator" here and Nokia was in the wrong.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
twilson
100 months ago

Yes, Apple's patents were so strong that they (Apple) decided to pay Nokia. Did I get it right?


Apple wanted to pay, and always knew they'd have to. That was never in question.

What was in question was why Nokia wanted to license their standards based patents to Apple under different terms to those they'd agreed to abide by when they submitted their patents as part of a standard.
Rating: 5 Votes
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gnasher729
100 months ago

OK, so Apple therefore admitted that they were wrong. Now lets hear from LTDs of this forum how they are going to spin this. They have been claiming all along that Apple was the "innovator" here and Nokia was in the wrong.


We know that you hate Apple, but as usual you get it wrong. Apple never claimed that Nokia's patents were not valid and that Apple should not pay. What Apple claimed that Nokia's patents were part of phone standards and Nokia had to license them to everyone on the same terms, whereas Nokia tried to charge Apple more money than others.

Now we hear that Apple is licensing the patents and pays some amount of money for them, something which Apple always said it wanted to do anyway.


Lets be perfectly clear about this....

1, this is a business as usual deal between both these companies. 2, it is good for both companies. And 3, Apple is still playing shuffleboard with Nokias genitals. Not being a fanboy, it's business and just compare the 2 balance sheets for a minute.


No, the company that has Nokia by the balls is Microsoft. Important rule for any company: Never, ever hire an ex-Microsoft executive as your CEO.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Oletros
100 months ago
A good post from Nilay Patel

http://thisismynext.com/2011/06/14/nokia-and-apple-settle-patent-disputes-apple-to-pay-one-time-fee-and-ongoing-license-fees/
Rating: 4 Votes

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