Qualcomm gets partial vicotory over Nokia complaint

[Fire14]

Qualcomm Scores Legal Win Against Nokia

Qualcomm claimed a partial victory on Friday after a US judge recommended the terminating of a US International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation of a complaint filed by Nokia. Qualcomm said that Judge Luckern's initial determination will become the Commission's final decision unless the Commission decides within 30 days to review the decision.

Nokia filed the complaint with the ITC in August, asking that imports into the USA of handsets containing Qualcomm chips should be banned - claiming that they infringe its patents related to performance, size and energy efficiency within mobile phones.

The decision to recommend the ending of the investigation was based - the judge said - due to the arbitration pending between the parties regarding their 2001 Subscriber Unit and Infrastructure Equipment License Agreement. Nokia spokeswoman, Laurie Armstrong said the company was disappointed by the decision but noted that the action was based on a technicality over the arbitration, and not on the merits of their actual complaint.

Last month, the ITC held a two-week hearing into a complaint filed by Qualcomm against Nokia, accusing the Finnish giant of infringing three of its patents. A decision on that investigation is not expected until next year at the earliest.

The two companies have been at each others throats over patent infringements since a licensing agreement expired in April.

Qualcomm Scores Legal Win Against Nokia

[Ironwalt]

UPDATE 1-German court dismisses Nokia case against Qualcomm
Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:08am EDT

BERLIN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A German regional court on Tuesday dismissed a case on procedural grounds in which Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) filed a complaint against U.S chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) patents in Germany.

The court in Mannheim said Nokia could appeal against the decision.

Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, and Qualcomm are in numerous legal disputes over a key cross-licensing agreement over technology patents that expired in April 2007.

Nokia has said it wanted authorities to rule that Qualcomm's patents are exhausted with respect to products sold on the European Union market with a Qualcomm licence -- in this case chipsets supplied by Texas Instruments (TI) (TXN.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Nokia and Qualcomm were not immediately available for comment.

Nokia has filed a similar complaint in The Hague District Court in the Netherlands, where the decision is expected next week. Nokia filed the suits to protest at Qualcomm's policy to charge first rival chipmakers who use its technology and then also their end-clients like Nokia.

Qualcomm technology ends up in Nokia phones through chips from TI, which pays for the use of Qualcomm patents.

Analysts estimate Nokia had been paying Qualcomm about $500 million per year before the patent expiry and wanted to reduce this cost. Nokia says its patent portfolio is much stronger now than 15 years ago, when the original licensing deal was signed.

Nokia filed a Dutch lawsuit against Qualcomm as TI chips arrive first in the Netherlands before being shipped to Nokia plants in Finland, Germany and Hungary. (Additional reporting by Tarmo Virki in Oulu)