Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Samsung inked another patent licensing deal, building on a pivotal alliance they initially announced in February. Exactly what intellectual property the new pact covers, though, isn't clear.
"This agreement announced today expands access for each company to patented technologies of the other and reinforces Nokia's leadership in technologies for the programmable world," Nokia said in a press release. "With this expansion, Nokia expects a positive impact to the net sales of Nokia Technologies starting from the third quarter of 2016."
The Finnish company said the deal will increase its patent and brand licensing net sales to more than $1 billion a year, and Nokia Technologies President Ramzi Haidamus said the company hopes to continue to grow its licensing business.
"With intellectual property portfolios from Nokia Technologies, Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia has a wealth of technologies relevant to mobile devices and beyond," Haidamus said in a prepared statement. "We welcome this expanded agreement with Samsung which recognizes the strength of our assets, and we continue to pursue new licensing opportunities across a number of diverse industries."
Samsung and Nokia ended a long-running patent dispute in February when a court in the International Chamber of Commerce settled a binding arbitration the companies had agreed to in 2013. Nokia said the settlement would increase sales of its patent business to more than $1 billion a year, although analysts said the outcome fell short of Nokia's expectations and may not bode well for the company's future licensing business.
Patents have become a key component of Nokia's business following the sale of its handset manufacturing business to Microsoft in 2014. But the company remains active in other facets as well: It plans to return to the mobile-devices market it once dominated following Microsoft's sale of its feature-phone business in May, and in April it entered the digital health space with the $191 million acquisition of France's Withings.
For more:
- see this Nokia press release
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