Qualcomm
Qualcomm said that it filed its complaints in those two jurisdictions because they are “noted for their extensive experience with patent litigation and their speedy adjudication of such cases.” Qualcomm is seeking injunctive relief against future sales and damages related to phones already sold.
Qualcomm did not return a call requesting a response to this statement.
Plummer also complained that Qualcomm is resorting to litigation despite
Qualcomm has previously filed two other patent infringement lawsuits against
Qualcomm said in a statement that its litigation is “part of a worldwide
Plummer said that both companies have a shared interest in achieving a
According to Plummer, Nokia has “significantly more” IP than Qualcomm in
Greengart said that Qualcomm’s position is that its IP formed the basis for
Given what seems like intransigence on either side, Greengart noted at the announced that it has filed suit against
handset maker Nokia yesterday, as the two companies
continue to spar over their respective intellectual property rights.
The most recent lawsuits, filed in the Eastern District of Texas and the Western District of Wisconsin respectively, allege that certain Nokia phones infringe on Qualcomm patents.
Qualcomm’s complaint filed in the Texas court alleges Nokia infringes on its GPRS
Nokia spokesman Bill Plummer said that while the handset maker has not fully
analyzed the details contained in the complaints, the lawsuits “have no
merit.”
“This is yet another example of this tactic of serial litigation being
employed by Qualcomm and which they’ve been employing for 17 months with no
success,” he told internetnews.com.
having committed itself to negotiating license agreements on fair and
reasonable terms.
Nokia’s GSM/GPRS/EDGE cellular phones in the United States, and has similar
cases pending in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and China.
effort to prevent Nokia from using the company’s valuable patented
innovations without paying royalties.”
This lawsuit comes two weeks after Nokia filed
its own series of lawsuits in Europe, claiming that Qualcomm is trying to
collect royalties on intellectual property to which it isn’t entitled.
EDGE and GPRS are data transmission services associated with the GSM
wireless standard that is dominant throughout most of the world, although
not the United States.
Both Nokia and Qualcomm own intellectual property
used in that standard and are in the process of negotiating the renewal of
cross-licensing agreements set to expire April 9, 2007.
reasonable cross-licensing arrangement and that “Nokia is committed to
negotiating in good faith on reaching an arrangement on a timely basis.”
These negotiations seem to have stumbled over how much credit each company
is entitled to for their respective contributions to technology, which is
complicated by the evolution of that technology.
Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart explained that Qualcomm has a very rich patent portfolio in
second-generation (2G) technology, while Nokia has more intellectual
property (IP) in evolving third-generation (3G) technology.
newer cell phone technology and that Qualcomm’s share of the cross-licensing
fees should be proportionally reduced.
For its part, Qualcomm noted that “we have negotiated many license agreement extensions historically without
materially altering the financial terms of those license agreements and we
do not anticipate that any agreement extension or new agreement with Nokia
would negatively impact our licensing program.”
the new technology and that it should be compensated accordingly.
time that Nokia brought its actions, “it’s probably not going to be resolved
until regulators step in.”
Nokia Accuses Qualcomm of ‘Serial Litigation’
