Nokia (NYSE: NOK) may still be trading patent blow-for-blows with Apple in the U.S., but in Europe it’s won a patent case that may strengthen its resolve against Cupertino…
The UK High Court has ruled in its favour, Nokia tells us (and Reuters), declaring invalid patents EP 540 808 (UK) and EP 1 186 189 (UK), held by German intellectual property license holder IPCom. Nokia’s spokesperson tells us…
—“Patent ‘808 deals with synchronization of the mobile to the network. IPCom alleged that Patent ‘808 was essential to GSM. The court found that it was neither valid nor essential.
—“Patent ‘189 deals with access to the RACH (that is the Random Access Channel, where the mobile announces to the network that it wants to make a call, and asks for a channel. In case of overload, there is a kind of lottery). IPCom alleged Patent ‘189 was essential to UMTS (3G). The Court found that the patent was not valid, but if it had been, it would have been essential.”
IPCom originally acquired the patents from Bosch, which created the GSM patents between the 1980s and 2000, when it had interests and ambitions in the mobile industry. According to The Register, IPCom has been trying to get some €12 billion in licensing from Nokia in relation to these patents, a sum that Nokia has been resisting.
Nokia’s win is wider than just for itself – IPCom has now pledged to the European Commission it will offer its other mobile patents under fair licensing terms. Last year, Nokia had complained to the EC that IPCom was asking for too much money. IPCom had acquired around 160 patent families that are “key to mobile communications standards” and based around GSM technology.
Just like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in the U.S., IPCom had, in a separate case in Germany, sought an injunction on the sale of Nokia handsets in the country, although a court in Mannheim put the request on hold until the European Patent Office decided on those patents’ validity. There is another UK case pending for next week concerning more patents owned by IPCom.
The patents in question in the IPCom case cover nuts-and-bolts GSM technology, rather than the newer innovations that are at the centre of Nokia’s dispute with Apple – touchscreens and other smartphone functionality. But, as in Nokia’s Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) patent dispute, this case demonstrates Nokia’s tenacity when it comes to IP.
—Separately, Nokia is also doing some patent work related to future products. Ubergizmo notes that one of the latest filings is for a flexible device that executes different commands depending on how one bends it. A patent for application 20100011291 has still not been issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
Update: Nokia tells us that following Monday’s ruling, IPCom “has conceded defeat in a further case, due to start trial in the UK next week. The case involved three further UK patents that IPCom had asserted against Nokia as being essential to the GSM and/or UMTS standards. IPCom has now accepted that these patents are also invalid.”
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