Nokia files patent complaints against Qualcomm in Europe
By Colleen Taylor -- EDN, March 19, 2007
The litigation wars are far from over for Finland-based cell phone maker Nokia and San Diego, Calif.-based CDMA chipset maker Qualcomm.
Nokia today announced that it has filed complaints against Qualcomm in Germany and the Netherlands, requesting declarations that Qualcomm's European patents are exhausted in respect to products placed on the European Union (EU) market with a Qualcomm license -- in this instance, chipsets supplied by Texas Instruments (TI). TI and Qualcomm are publicly known to have entered into what they dubbed a "patent portfolio license" in 2000, Nokia said.
If Nokia's claim succeeds, Qualcomm would be prevented in Europe from enforcing its respective patents in relation to Nokia handsets incorporating such chipsets.
The complaints were filed in the regional court of Mannheim in Germany and in the Hague district court in the Netherlands.
This is not the first courtroom battle between the two companies, which have a history of disagreements over alleged licensing and patent infringement. In May 2006, Qualcomm filed a suit in the U.K. against Nokia, alleging that the company had infringed on two of Qualcomm's British patents. On June 9, Qualcomm filed a complaint with the United States' International Trade Commission (ITC) requesting an investigation into the alleged infringement by Nokia's GSM products of six Qualcomm patents. The ITC subsequently initiated an investigation in July.
Qualcomm could not be reached for comment on the most recent allegations.
