Nokia Adds IPad To Ongoing Patent Battle With Apple
"We have taken this step to protect the results of our pioneering development and to put an end to continued unlawful use of Nokia's innovation,” said Paul Melin, general manager of patent licensing at Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, in a statement. The company filed a complaint against Apple Friday with the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin.
Nokia alleges in its new complaint that Apple’s iPhone and iPad 3G devices infringe on five Nokia patents that “relate to technologies for enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications and innovations in antenna configurations that improve performance and save space, allowing smaller and more compact devices.”
The inclusion of the iPad 3G and not the original iPad in the new complaint indicates that Nokia is specifically concerned about its patents related to 3rd Generation mobile telecommunications standards. Nokia has also claimed in other legal complaints that Apple’s iPad, iPhone and MacBook products infringe on Nokia patents.
The legal back-and-forth between Nokia and Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has been escalating since Nokia first sued Apple last October for alleged iPhone infringements on Nokia’s GSM and wireless LAN patents. Nokia’s October complaint filed with a federal court in Delaware was followed by a similar complaint lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission in December and another lawsuit in Delaware in January.
Apple returned the favor with a countersuit in December that alleged that Nokia had violated of 13 Apple patents, going so far as to accuse Nokia of “stealing” in an Apple statement addressing the countersuit.
What’s Nokia after with its legal maneuvers? Apple Insider cites a Piper Jaffray analyst’s belief that Nokia is looking to collect “a 1 percent to 2 percent royalty on every iPhone sold ... in compensation for intellectual properties related to GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi.”