Nokia Sues Apple Over Patent Infringements

Finland’s Nokia says it is suing Apple for breaching 32 technology patents. Yes, that’s right, Nokia…

Despite what many people think, Nokia still exists as a brand, and if reports are to believed, is set to launch a whole new range of Android based smartphones in 2017.

Of course, Nokia isn’t quite the powerhouse tech giant it used to be.

And quite what Nokia is these days, compared to what it was when Microsoft bought it out and took it over a few years ago, before selling the Finnish company is anyone’s guess. But, the fact remains that Apple are being sued by a company called Nokia.

Nokia’s law suits have been filed in three courts in Germany and one in Texas. The claims cover patents for displays, user interfaces, software, antennas, chipsets and video coding.

It’s not the first time that Nokia and Apple have gone head to head in technology patent disputes. Between 2009 and 2011 the two companies were involved in several long running legal battles over the patent technology both companies were using in their phone.

At the time, Nokia was still the world’s most successful cellular phone manufacturer. And remember, hard as that might be to conceive now, this was just a little over 5 years ago. Admittedly, Nokia was at the beginning of its long drawn out descent into oblivion, phone sales wise, and Apple was at the start of its iPhone adventures.

In the end, the two companies resolved their differences with Apple making a very large but undisclosed financial settlement with the Finns, and consenting to make further royalty payments over licensed technology.

 “Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products,” said Ilkka Rahnasto, Nokia’s head of Patent Business, in a statement.

The current lawsuit alleges that Apple have infringed an alleged 32 patents that Nokia owns. “Since agreeing a license covering some patents from the Nokia Technologies portfolio in 2011, Apple has declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other of its patented inventions which are used by many of Apple’s products,” Nokia said in a statement.

Apple has been at the centre of several patent infringement lawsuits over the years. Earlier this year it paid $24.9 million to settle a Siri patent lawsuit, and $625 million in a Facetime patent lawsuit. Apple isn’t always the victim either.

It recently won a long standing legal battle with Samsung over the Koreans company use of technology Apple had patented in their own smartphones. That feud began back in 2011, when Apple sued Samsung, claiming that its main smartphone competitor stole its technology and the iPhone’s trademarked appearance.

For its part, Apple claim that Nokia have teamed up with a Patent Troll company in order to bring about the lawsuits.