Nokia and Apple have reached a settlement to end all patent litigation between the them, according to the Finnish company.
In a statement this morning, Nokia said that the agreement included the withdrawal of each company’s respective complaints to the US Federal Trade Commission and the payment by Apple of a one-time fee in addition to ongoing royalties.
‘We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees,’ said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Nokia. ‘This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.’
The deal is an important one for Nokia, which is determined to generate as much revenue as it can from its patent portfolio. Although it has been seen as a victory for the Finnish company, patent expert, Florian Mueller, points out that Apple won’t be too unhappy. Although, Nokia hasn’t initiated legal proceedings against Google or Android handset manufacturers, Mueller expects it to be forthcoming.
‘Nokia emerges victorious, but this is a sweet defeat for Apple because its competitors — especially those building Android-based devices — will also have to pay Nokia, and most if not all of them will likely have to pay more on a per-unit basis because they don’t bring as much intellectual property to the table as Apple definitely did,’ he said in a blog post.
