Nokia may be embroiled in an onerous legal stoush with Apple in the US but in Europe it has won a patent case in a UK court against German patent licensing firm IPCom.
The court victory ends a long-running dispute whereby IPCom had attempted to charge Nokia for using the GSM patents, but the UK ruling found that the claims were unreasonable.
IPCom originally acquired the patents from Bosch, which created the GSM patents between the 1980s and 2000. IPCom has been trying to get over €12 billion in licensing from Nokia in relation to these patents.
Nokia, which claims the ruling is a great victory, now aims to get the majority of its related legal costs recovered, but declined to comment on how much money would be involved.
IPCom's managing director Bernhard Frohwitter told media that the company would appeal the court ruling, as it believed that the patents are valid. The legal wrangle continues in Germany however.
Meanwhile Apple is seeking to block US imports of Nokia mobile phones by filing a new patent- infringement complaint against Nokia with the US International Trade Commission in Washington.
The complaint follows Nokia’s lead as the vendor started the year attempting to block the Apple imports, including the iPhone .