Nokia today announced that it's filed lawsuits against HTC, RIM and Viewsonic in both the U.S. and Germany, alleging that products from the three companies infringe on several Nokia patents. There are 45 patents involved in the various suits that protect Nokia "proprietary innovations," including various hardware and software capabilities like dual-function antennas, power management, application stores, multitasking and the retrieval of email attachments on a mobile device. Nokia has filed a handful of different cases against the companies that include a complaint to the U.S. International Trade Commission against HTC, suits against both HTC and Viewsonic in the Federal District Court of Delaware and a claim against HTC and RIM in the Regional Court of Dusseldorf, Germany.
In its announcements of the suits, Nokia says that while it's handed out licenses to its standards essential patents to over 40 companies, it felt the need to file these claims in an attempt to "to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies" that haven't been widely licensed. The finer details of the suits, like which products Nokia believes have violated its patents, remain up in the air, but we'll pass along more details as we get them. Stay tuned.
Nokia takes new steps to protect its innovations and intellectual property
Patent suits filed against HTC, RIM and Viewsonic in the US and Germany
Espoo, Finland - Nokia has filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC, RIM and Viewsonic infringe a number of Nokia patents.
"Nokia is a leader in many technologies needed for great mobile products," said Louise Pentland, chief legal officer at Nokia. "We have already licensed our standards essential patents to more than 40 companies. Though we'd prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed."
Nokia's actions include a complaint to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) against HTC, suits against HTC and Viewsonic in the Federal District Court of Delaware, US, against HTC and RIM in the Regional Court in Dusseldorf, Germany and against all three companies in the Regional Courts in Mannheim and Munich, Germany. In total, 45 Nokia patents are in suit in one or more of the actions.
Nokia proprietary innovations protected by these patents are being used by the companies to enable hardware capabilities such as dual function antennas, power management and multimode radios, as well as to enhance software features including application stores, multitasking, navigation, conversational message display, dynamic menus, data encryption and retrieval of email attachments on a mobile device.
"Many of these inventions are fundamental to Nokia products," Pentland concluded. "We'd rather that other companies respect our intellectual property and compete using their own innovations, but as these actions show, we will not tolerate the unauthorized use of our inventions."
About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia's technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world.
During the last two decades, Nokia has invested over EUR 45 billion in research and development and built the wireless industry's strongest and broadest IPR portfolio, with around 10,000 patent families. Nokia is a world leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications technologies, which is also demonstrated by Nokia's strong patent position.
For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia
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