Nokia said it is disappointed that QUALCOMM filed a lawsuit against it for allegedly infringing on 11 QUALCOMM patents and one of its subsidiary's. The suit claims that Nokia phones sold in the US infringe on QUALCOMM patents that improve wireless Internet access and data transmission over GSM networks. QUALCOMM developed rival technology CDMA and sees the round of lawsuits as a means to curb next-generation GSM developers from piggybacking on its CDMA innovations. Nokia said it will launch a formal defense once QUALCOMM sends it a copy of the complaint. Nokia claims QUALCOMM has not engaged in any licensing negotiations over the technologies in question as it is obligated to do on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
Nokia also pointed to its recent move to join a coalition of five other companies in the industry that requested the EU investigate QUALCOMM's alleged breaking of licensing agreement rules. Nokia, Ericsson, Broadcom, NEC, Texas Instruments and Matsushita Electric Industrial filed the request with the EU. Fellow coalition member Broadcom was in a similar position earlier in the year after it filed a complaint with the ITC that alleged QUALCOMM exercised unfair trade practices and patent infringement. Two months later QUALCOMM countersued Broadcom for patent infringement.
For more on the QUALCOMM, Nokia suit:
- take a look at this article from Forbes