Can Nokia quash Qualcomm's lawsuit?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 25 May 2007 14:55

Your IT - Entertainment

Nokia gives some detail on their ‘implementation’ patents, saying they “relate primarily to multi-band/multi-mode technologies, that allow seamless and transparent roaming for consumers, and direct conversion technologies that reduce handset and chipset size, cost and power consumption”, saying also that “these technologies have had a significant role in the success of Nokia devices. Qualcomm, through its unauthorized use of Nokia patents, has copied these innovations and made them available to its chipset customers”.

Given that there’s a fight on by the EFF about software patents, the issue of how to license hardware patents may come under similar scrutiny. Ultimately, however, it’s a fight about money. If you have the best hardware, and it’s a success in the marketplace, why should a competitor be allowed to copy it – and get away with it?

Yet we have two companies – and plenty of others – fighting it out over hardware they’ve designed that does the same thing someone else’s hardware does. How these kinds of issues will ever be resolved without needing to end up in patent lawsuits first is, of course, the tricky bit, or you wouldn’t have ended up in patent lawsuit stage in the first place.

These kinds of patent fights have been sorted out in the past where the legal battles dragged on, with the result being a cross-licensing agreement with the potential for money to change hands as well if need be, just to make the problem go away and get back to focusing on the business.

That might end up happening in this case – Nokia sure doesn’t want to be paying Qualcomm even more money, and are fighting back with patent claims of their own, with Nokia saying that: “Nokia has built one of the strongest and broadest IPR portfolios in the wireless industry over the last 15 years through extensive investments in research and development.  Nokia will continue to vigorously defend itself against infringement and unauthorized use of its intellectual property”.

So there. The ball’s back in Qualcomm’s court – it’ll be interesting to see just how they return it!