Time to put on your patent agreement party hats! Nokia announced this morning that it and RIM have entered into a new patent licensing agreement that will put an end to all patent-related lawsuits going on between the companies. Additionally, any pending legal actions that came as a result of Nokia's arbitration victory over RIM last month will be withdrawn. While it wasn't disclosed exactly how much money will be changing hands as part of the agreement, Nokia did say that the structure includes both a one-time payment as well as ongoing payments, all of which will be from RIM to Nokia. Here's what Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia, had to say about the agreement:

"We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM and reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect our unique product differentiation. This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

RIM and Nokia signed a cross-licensing agreement relating to cellular patents back in 2003, but last year the BlackBerry manufacturer sought arbitration because it felt that the deal should also cover WLAN patents. However, an arbitration tribunal decided late last month that RIM was in breach of contract, and Nokia opted to file suits against RIM in the U.S., U.K. and Canada to enforce that ruling. It looks like RIM decided that it would rather pony up some extra royalty fees instead of dealing with Nokia's patent litigation, which I'm sure is exciting news for anyone that's growing weary of all of the patent-related suits that've been flying around as of late. Now, where's that patent agreement punch and cake?

Via Nokia