Nokia (NYSE:NOK) announced today the commencement of its defense in the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) hearing process for the action brought by Qualcomm against Nokia alleging patent infringement of three Qualcomm patents. The patents are asserted against certain Nokia GSM/GPRS/EDGE devices. The hearing in this matter is currently scheduled for September 10 - 24, 2007.
Qualcomm filed its complaint on June 9, 2006 alleging infringement by Nokia of six Qualcomm patents. The ITC subsequently agreed to initiate an investigation on July 10, 2006, however the case was stayed from February 26, 2007 until June 12, 2007. Since its initial filing, Qualcomm has voluntarily withdrawn three of the six patents from its complaint. The remaining three patents are all from the same patent family and were declared to be essential to GSM standards by Qualcomm, although Qualcomm has subsequently attempted to withdraw its essentiality declaration to one of the patents.
"Nokia is confident that its products do not infringe any of the patents remaining in this case and that the patents are invalid," said Carl Belding, Chief Legal Officer, Nokia. "We look forward to proving that the claims regarding the three remaining patents have no more merit than those already withdrawn by Qualcomm."
Qualcomm declared the three remaining patents at issue to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as essential to GSM standards. In doing so, it made a binding commitment to license those patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Despite its obligations Qualcomm is now seeking an exclusionary order, for these declared essential patents, from the ITC.
For the proper functioning of the standardization process, and continued industry innovation, Nokia believes injunctions and exclusionary orders should not be sought or be obtainable for standards essential patents.
Nokia is the industry leader in wireless innovation and the development of GSM technologies. Nokia has built one of the strongest and broadest IPR portfolios in the wireless industry over the last 15 years, including more than 250 GSM declared essential patent families, through extensive investments in research and development.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.
It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the timing of product, service and solution deliveries; B) our ability to develop, implement and commercialize new products, services, solutions and technologies; C) expectations regarding market growth, developments and structural changes; D) expectations regarding our mobile device volume growth, market share, prices and margins; E) expectations and targets for our results of operations; F) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation; and G) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "plans," "will" or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) competitiveness of our product portfolio; 2) our ability to identify key market trends and to respond timely and successfully to the needs of our customers; 3) the extent of the growth of the mobile communications industry, as well as the growth and profitability of the new market segments within that industry which we target; 4) the availability of new products and services by network operators and other market participants; 5) our ability to successfully manage costs; 6) the intensity of competition in the mobile communications industry and our ability to maintain or improve our market position and respond successfully to changes in the competitive landscape; 7) the impact of changes in technology and our ability to develop or otherwise acquire complex technologies as required by the market, with full rights needed to use; 8)timely and successful commercialization of complex technologies as new advanced products, services and solutions; 9) our ability to protect the complex technologies, which we or others develop or that we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our products, services and solution offerings; 10) our ability to protect numerous Nokia patented, standardized, or proprietary technologies from third party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 11) our ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing and logistics, as well as to ensure the quality, safety, security and timely delivery of our products, services and solutions; 12) inventory management risks resulting from shifts in market demand; 13) our ability to source quality components and sub-assemblies without interruption and at acceptable prices; 14) Nokia's and Siemens' ability to successfully integrate the operations, personnel and supporting activities of their respective businesses as a result of the merger of Nokia's networks business and Siemens' carrier-related operations for fixed and mobile networks forming Nokia Siemens Networks; 15) whether, as a result of investigations into alleged violations of law by some current or former employees of Siemens, government authorities or others take actions against Siemens and/or its employees that may involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia Siemens Networks, or there may be undetected additional violations that may have occurred prior to the transfer, or ongoing violations that may occur after the transfer, of such assets and employees that could result in additional actions by government authorities; 16) the expense, time, attention and resources of Nokia Siemens Networks and our management to detect, investigate and resolve any situations related to alleged violations of law involving the assets and employees of Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; 17) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer relationships resulting from the ongoing government investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; 18) developments under large, multi-year contracts or in relation to major customers; 19) general economic conditions globally and, in particular, economic or political turmoil in emerging market countries where we do business; 20) our success in collaboration arrangements relating to development of technologies or new products, services and solutions; 21) the success, financial condition and performance of our collaboration partners, suppliers and customers; 22)any disruption to information technology systems and networks that our operations rely on; 23) exchange rate fluctuations, including, in particular, fluctuations between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Chinese yuan, the UK pound sterling and the Japanese yen, as well as certain other currencies; 24) the management of our customer financing exposure; 25) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile devices and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; 26) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 27) our ability to recruit, retain and develop appropriately skilled employees; and 28) the impact of changes in government policies, laws or regulations; as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-24 of the company's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2006 under "Item 3.D Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
http://www.nokia.com