Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have settled their long-running patent dispute. On top of agreeing to settle all litigation, both companies will withdraw complaints previously filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Apple will pay Nokia a one-time fee, in addition to royalties. The actual amounts were not disclosed by Nokia in its June 14 press release, although the one-time payment will have a positive financial impact on the Finnish company s finances for the second quarter 2011.
” We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,” Stephen Elop, president and CEO of Nokia, wrote in a June 14 statement. “This settlement demonstrates Nokia s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.”
Nokia claims to have invested some $62 billion in research in development over the past decade, resulting in a massive patent portfolio.
Before their blanket settlement, Nokia and Apple had engaged in a long-winded and somewhat brutal legal battle. In March, Nokia filed a complaint against Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission, accusing its rival of infringing on its mobile patents.
“Our latest ITC filing means we now have 46 Nokia patents in suit against Apple, many filed more than 10 years before Apple made its first iPhone, Paul Melin, Nokia s vice president of intellectual property,” wrote in a statement accompanying that complaint. ” Nokia is a leading innovator in technologies needed to build great mobile products and Apple must stop building its products using Nokia s proprietary innovation.”
To read the original eWeek article, click here: Apple, Nokia Reach Patent Licensing Agreement
