Finnish mobile-phone maker Nokia announced not too long ago that it sued Apple due to a patent infringement that involved the GSM, UMTS and WLAN connectivity standards used in the iPhone, and it seems that the Cupertino-based company might see itself in the position to pay up to $1 billion in case it loses the lawsuit.

The largest mobile-phone vendor in the world filed the suit in the Delaware District Court on Thursday, claiming that a number of ten patents were infringed by Apple's iPhone in areas like wireless data transfer. Moreover, the company also stated that all of Apple's iPhone models used its patented technologies.

Up until now, the Cupertino company has managed to ship a number of around 34 million iPhones, with 7.4 million units being sold during the last quarter alone. According to Strategy Analytics' Neil Mawston, cited by Reuters, the Finnish phone maker might ask Apple to pay somewhere between $200 million and $1 billion for the patents.

Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight, also commented on the matter. “It is almost inconceivable that someone can produce a mobile phone without using Nokia patented technologies.” As many of you might already know, most of the major patents in 3G technologies are being held by Qualcomm, Motorola, Nokia, and Ericsson, while mobile-phone makers enjoy licensing agreements so that they can use the patents in their devices.

Apple launched its first iPhone model back in 2007, and Nokia says that all models, including the original GSM one, infringe its patents. However, it should also be noted that Ericsson stated that Apple was licensing its patents. The Cupertino company was sued soon after launching the first iPhone by Cisco for using the name. According to Reuters, companies pay up to “15 percent of the sales price of 3G phones to patent holders,” while the rate is lower for 2G devices.