Nokia has filed lawsuits for patent infringements against Apple in what appears to be a declaration of war. The Finnish phone maker is bringing its portfolio, that includes patents from the newly acquired Alcatel-Lucent, to the courtroom as it says that Apple has refused the opportunity to license the technology.
Apple stands accused of infringing some 32 Nokia-owned patents, which includes aspects of Siri. Most of the patents have something to do with radio technology, and seem to fall on the highly technical side of things.
The complaints have been filed in German regional courts in Dusseldorf, Mannheim, and Munich. More importantly, the patent complaints have been filed in the patent troll haven of Texas, USA through Acacia Research Corp. Crucially, Acacia is a well known patent troll that managed to win a $22 million (about RM100 million) verdict against Apple earlier this year.
Apple has countered the suit with its own anti-trust complaint against Nokia. The company accused its rivals of attempting to abuse patent law by spreading it out over several companies like Acacia with the goal of extracting more money. This counter-suit believes that Nokia is not acting in a fair and non-discriminatory manner about its patents.
All this means is that Nokia is stepping back into the phone manufacturing game, and is preparing to re-ignite its patent battles with Apple. Of course, a lot has changed since 2011; and the courts may not be as sympathetic towards to recovering Finnish company.
[Source: Nokia, Ars Technica]
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