Nokia sues Apple for patent infringement, will others follow?
Published: 23 October, 2009
READ MORE: Nokia | Apple | GSM | UMTS
Nokia has filed suit against Apple, claiming infringement of 10 of its essential patents, and saying it wants to end the iPhone maker's "free ride". While the timing may be political, given the iPhone's increasing impact on Nokia's position in the high end smartphone market, the action puts Apple, which has been widely expected to go on the IPR offensive over key iPhone technologies, on the back foot. It appears that the patents in question are essential IPR, and so could not be easily worked around should Nokia have a strong case. This could also open the floodgates to other suits from vendors eager to corral the expansion of Apple in the mobile world, threatening it with higher handset costs just as even the smartphone category is falling into a price war amid heightened competition.
Of course, as with any patent litigation, the suits and countersuits could drag on for years, and will revolve as much around political and commercial rivalries as the actual rights and wrongs of the licensing case. But it will be closely watched by all players - iPhone competitors such as LG (which has said the iPhone infringed some of its own IPR and copied features pioneered in the Prada); as well as other holders of essential IPR in 2G and 3G technologies, the most important being Nokia, Ericsson and Qualcomm (the latter always an interesting wild card when patent matters raise their head).
Nokia filed suit in the US federal district court in Delaware, accusing Apple of infringing 10 patents related to technologies that are "fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN standards". According to Nokia, the patents cover wireless data, speed encoding and decoding, security and encryption.
In other words, they relate to fundamental workings of the wireless networks, not some add-on technology that could be replaced or changed to avoid royalties (most patent litigation speculation around the iPhone to date has revolved around touchscreen approaches, where there are different methods available. Not so with the 3G connection).
Apple's options are to settle out of court, or challenge the validity of the patents. This would be extremely difficult, because of the number involved and their widespread recognition in the industry, including by standards bodies like the 3GPP. Nokia is upfront about its patents, not a secretive 'patent troll' waiting to pounce when the prey is at the peak of its revenues. Nokia said it already had licensing deals for some or all of these patents with over 40 companies, and that it has asked Apple previously to "play by the same rules" as everyone else. Its patents have been tested multiple times, most recently in the long-running rows with Qualcomm. And of course, that argument did not question the validity of the Nokia IPR, only how much value it should be given in relation to that of Qualcomm's own essential patents. In wireless networking, Apple does not have significant IPR to trade.
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