Nokia Wins the Battle with Qualcomm

Both Nokia and Qualcomm recently announced that a judge from ITC (the United States International Trade Commission) made an Initial Determination that favors Nokia in the lawsuit with the US-based telecommunications company. A complaint was filed by Qualcomm in June 2006, stating that Nokia's GSM/GPRS/EDGE-only mobile phones infringe several Qualcomm patents, but this Initial Determination issued by ITC shows there is no infringement found in three of the mentioned patents. Furthermore, another patent was found to be invalid.

"We are pleased with Judge Luckern's decision and believe it is consistent with and supported by the facts", said Rick Simonson, Chief Financial Officer at Nokia. "This decision confirms our belief that Qualcomm does not have relevant GSM patents. This is another failed attempt by Qualcomm to mislead both Nokia and the telecommunications industry."

Qualcomm sustained back in June 2006 that some handsets imported by Nokia in the US infringe six of its patents, therefore they should be banned from the market. Meanwhile, Qualcomm withdrew three of the six patents from the complaint. The three patents that remained are associated with an invention regarding CDMA technology, claimed to be a Qualcomm original invention, but are not related to WCDMA or 3G technology.

The dispute brought in front of the ITC is not the only one between Nokia and Qualcomm, as similar infringement claims, related to CDMA inventions, are issued by Qualcomm against Nokia in Asia an Europe. Moreover, Nokia also has complaints filed against Qualcomm, related to BREW and MediaFLO technologies.

Although this Initial Determination is favorable to the Finnish company, there is another episode from the Nokian-Qualcommian war to come, as the ID must be forwarded for a review from the full Commission. A Final Determination will be made by the International Trade Commission by April 14, 2008.