14 DAY TRIAL // Good news for Nokia fans and for the Finnish company itself, obviously, as LG has agreed to take a royalty-bearing smartphone patent license from Nokia Technologies.
This is not the first company that enters a patent agreement with Nokia, but this time the Finnish company didn't ask for a patent exchange. Instead, LG will pay royalties for using Nokia's smartphone patent licenses.
“We are pleased to welcome LG Electronics to our licensing program. We've worked constructively with LG Electronics and agreed a mutually beneficial approach, including the use of independent arbitration to resolve any differences. This agreement sets the scene for further collaboration between our companies in future,” said Ramzi Haidamus, President of Nokia Technologies.
LG is the first major smartphone manufacturer to join the licensing program since Nokia sold its Devices & Services business to Microsoft back in 2014.
According to Nokia Technologies, the detailed royalty payment obligations will be subject to commercial arbitration. This arbitration is expected to conclude within a 1-2 year timeframe.
Unfortunately, nothing else on the terms of agreement have been shared with the public, and Nokia confirmed that they would remain confidential between the two companies.
Will we see another Nokia smartphone anytime soon?
Nokia is rumored to enter the smartphone business once again sometime in 2016, though the Finnish company officially denied any plans to launch a new handset anytime soon.
However, the device maker has already launched an Android product, the N1 tablet, which is now available for purchase in China and Taiwan.
The fact that the company started to launch mobile devices once again could be an indication that it is likely to put together another mobile division that will launch smartphones and tablets.
Since Nokia has the necessary expertise to release solid products in the mobile world, it would have been a pity for the company to decide against it.
Until then, though, Nokia continues to receive royalties for more than 60 licensees for its 2G, 3G and 4G mobile communication technologies.