Is this peak litigation season or something? After the news broke that AT&T is suing LCD manufacturers, there’s word that Nokia has just filed a lawsuit against Apple in Delaware today. The Finnish company is claiming that the iPhone has violated 10 of the Finnish company’s GSM, UMTS and Wifi patents.
Says Nokia (via press release): “The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.” According to the litigant, roughly 40 other companies (“virtually all the leading mobile device vendors”) license these patents, which cover key technologies that make GSM phones work. Apple, however, refused to come to “appropriate” licensing terms for its mobile device.
So what does “appropriate” mean? No idea. But it’s not hard to imagine Cupertino blustering in and trying to set its own terms, or batting the issue away like a pesky mosquito and ignoring the patents completely. When it comes to Apple (whose products, btw, I adore, but whose attitude drives me nuts), lawsuits are just par for the course. This isn’t the first time the company’s been sued, and it probably won’t be the last. But does this case actually have any legs?
Nokia hasn’t actually come out and announced what specific damages it’s seeking, so I wonder what would happen if it actually wins. Guesses, anyone?
[via Phone Scoop, Engadget Mobile]