The saga continues…
In the latest round between the two companies, Nokia today rejected Qualcomm’s public statements that it does not use Nokia patents. In its own statement, Nokia said it has for the last fifteen years contributed its technology to industry standards, such as GSM, WCDMA and CDMA and that, if Qualcomm’s products comply with industry standards, it is in the same position as any other supplier of mobile technology in that it needs access to Nokia’s patents covering standardized technologies.
Nokia said it believes that Qualcomm is currently using over one hundred of Nokia’s GSM/WCDMA and CDMA2000 essential patents in its chipsets, and that Nokia and Qualcomm are yet to agree on the compensation payable by Qualcomm for such patents. With its more than 200 million units annually, Nokia claims that Qualcomm is the largest user in the world of Nokia’s technology and patents. Nokia says its request for royalty payments from Qualcomm is based on royalty levels which are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND).
Since the early 1990’s Nokia has invested over $35 billion in R&D and built one of the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolios with over 11,000 patent families. From April 9, 2007, Nokia contractually has a fully paid up license covering Qualcomm’s early patents and thus those patents are licensed to Nokia royalty free for its handsets going forward in perpetuity, says the company.
The statement concludes that ‘Nokia and Qualcomm continue to be in cross-license negotiations aimed at reaching a mutually acceptable agreement in a timely manner.’