Courts dismiss Nokia's patent exhaustion complaints against Qualcomm

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated(Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wirelesstechnologies and data solutions, today announced that the District Court inThe Hague has dismissed a complaint filed by Nokia seeking to limitQualcomm's intellectual property rights. In the action, Nokia sought adeclaration from the court that Qualcomm's European patents are exhaustedwith respect to chips placed on the European market by Texas Instruments(TI) in light of the Patent Portfolio Agreement entered into betweenQualcomm and TI in 2000. In dismissing Nokia's complaint, the Court ruledfirst that it was only accepting jurisdiction as to The Netherlands and notwith respect to any other countries in Europe. Second, the court concludedthat Nokia's complaint was too vague and non-specific in failing toadequately allege any specific instances of possible exhaustion regardingany specific Qualcomm patents used by any specific Nokia products. Nokiahas three months to appeal the Court's decision. "We are very pleased with the recent rulings by the Dutch and Germancourts in dismissing Nokia's patent exhaustion claims, and we areparticularly gratified that this ruling highlights that one should viewNokia's fundamental theory of exhaustion with a significant degree ofskepticism," said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and generalcounsel of Qualcomm. "It is obvious that Nokia was trying to weakenQualcomm's position in our licensing negotiations and they failed. This isthe second time in as many months that a court in Europe has rejectedNokia's attempts to have a declaration of exhaustion against Qualcomm'spatents." Qualcomm's agreements with ASIC suppliers include as material termsexpress provisions that such agreements (1) are not intended to result inthe exhaustion of any of Qualcomm's patents, and (2) reserve for Qualcommthe right to seek royalties from handset manufacturers incorporating chipsfrom any such ASIC supplier. Separately, on October 23, the Regional Court of Mannheim, Germanydismissed similar claims seeking a declaration of patent exhaustion byNokia. The Mannheim court dismissed Nokia's complaint for lack ofadmissibility, noting that Nokia lacked a "legal interest" in pursuing suchclaims. Nokia has until the end of November 2007 to appeal that decision.In both cases, Nokia is required to pay court costs as well as Qualcomm'sattorney fees for defending the actions. Qualcomm Incorporated (http://www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing anddelivering innovative digital wireless communications products and servicesbased on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego,Calif., Qualcomm is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2007 FORTUNE500(R) company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market(R) under the ticker symbolQCOM. Qualcomm is a registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. All othertrademarks are the property of their respective owner