You would have recently read about Nokia suing Apple over infringement of 10 mobile technology patents that it claims as its own. Now Apple has counter-sued Nokia for unethically stealing and using 13 of its intellectual properties. According to Bruce Sewell, Apples VP and General Counsel “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours”. Apple also accuses that “In response, Nokia chose to copy the iPhone, especially its enormously popular and patented design and user interface.”
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Nokia has been rapidly losing market share in high-end smart phone market to competitors like iPhone, HTC, Samsung etc. But in recent times Nokia has successfully negotiated with other mobile makers for royalties for its patents that the industry describes as ‘basic’. Legal experts feel its highly unlikely that Nokia is making a false claim or that Apple can invalidate these patents, given the fact that 40 or more mobile companies have licensed Nokia’s patents. But the possibility is that Apple could have licensed similar patents from Ericsson or Qualcomm who own most of the mobile technology patents.
Some other people feel Nokia is going through a crunch situation and wants to ride on iPhone popularity to make some fast cash. The biggest question here is “Why did Nokia wait so long?”. Why did you have to sit and watch for two whole years if someone was making billions out of your patents? Rumors abound about possible pressure from licensing companies who also feel iPhone should also pay for what they are paying. We can of course understand the difference in market costs for a product when one competitor has to pay a license fee while the other goes free.
Will this issue go to court? May be, but only 1% of the cases filed make it to the final round. It could end with some third party negotiator jumping in and signing a compromise between two mobile giants. Nokia could also be seeing it as a weapon to put pressure on Apple to agree to its royalty rates. All we got to do is – wait and watch.
