Nokia’s fortunes may be flapping faster than Deputy Dawg’s ears in a Gale Force 10 wind, but they’re still willing to take on the mighty Apple in a row over patent infringement.
The Finnish mobile giant has announced that it’s suing its rival Apple for infringing their mobile phone technology patents with the iPhone.
Nokia’s action sent Apple’s shares down from an all time high, as they accused the company of “trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation,” insisting that they had not been compensated for alleged patent infringements involving wireless data, speech coding, security, and encryption.
Nokia says it has agreements with around 40 firms (including most mobile phone handset makers) which lets them use their technology, but naughty Apple had apparently not signed such an agreement, as Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia. explains:
The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for.
Apple is also expected to follow this principle.
