This is one slugfest sure to carry on into 2010. Nokia yesterday requested an investigation against Apple with U.S. regulator the International Trade Commission. This is the biggest complaint yet in a legal dispute between the two companies, which started when the two failed to reach agreement in mobile licensing negotiations earlier this year and has resulted in both sides filing suits against each other in U.S. Courts.
In this latest filing with ITC, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) alleges that “Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) infringes Nokia patents in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers.”
“While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple’s attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case…is about Apple’s practice of building its business on Nokia’s proprietary innovation,” said Paul Melin, general manager, patent licensing at Nokia, in a statement.
The ITC complaint is wide-ranging, covering key areas including user interface, camera, antenna and battery life technologies. In all, it refers to seven separate Nokia patents.
Nokia has had some success with ITC patent complaints in the past. The ITC ruled in favor of Nokia in the case of a long-running dispute with chipmaker Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM), which was eventually settled in 2008.
Still, while Apple is moving full-speed ahead in its path through the consumer electronics market, Nokia’s device strategy appears somewhat all over the map. This ITC complaint shows Nokia is clearly trying to protect its business, but there are other reports that imply the company might even go so far as to sell off its handset division to focus on services in the longer term.
A link to Nokia’s press release on the Apple ITC complaint is here.
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