Apple’s patent complaint against Nokia investigated by ITC

25th February, 2010 by adina
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The international Trade Commission of the United States agreed last week to investigate a patent complaint filed by Apple against Nokia. The aim of the investigation is to determine whether or not nine Apple patents are violated by Nokia’s phones. As a result, a successful investigation could ban the import of almost all Nokia handsets into the United States. The agreement is a follow up of a similar decision made by the same commission to investigate Nokia’s claims covering iPhones as well as iPods, Macs and other hardware made by Apple. These are, according to observers, bargaining tactics for countering lawsuits related in order to force one side or the other into engaging an out-of-court settlement.

Nokia was the one to trigger these actions when suing Apple for the refuse of licensing allegedly valid patents regarding 3G and this way skimping on royalty payments. Apple has refused and has accused the Finnish firm of trying to recover losses in smartphone market share by putting pressure on a competitor. It is known that Nokia had practically abandoned touchscreen devices until its 5800 XpressMusic that shipped not earlier than a year and a half after the first iPhone was released.

The mutual complaints are unlikely to be finished for roughly a year and neither company has made any comments on the topic.


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