Patent Punch-Up Hots Up

The legal dispute between the world's largest mobile handset manufacturer, Nokia, and chip-maker Qualcomm intensified last night as the Finnish giant filed its first patent counter-suit against the US manufacturer. The Helsinki-based company says it is seeking damages and an injunction against the US company for using certain chipsets. Nokia said it also responded to the lawsuit filed by Qualcomm in Wisconsin in the US at the beginning of last month.

The dispute between the two powerhouses of the mobile industry is essentially over Nokia's use of Qualcomm patents for 3G technology. However, in a further twist, the two companies disagree about the extent to which Qualcomm has, or has not, been using many Nokia-patented technologies in its own chip business.

Nokia says it remains confident that its products do not infringe either of the two Qualcomm patents-in-suit and said that both patents are invalid. Yet, during the last two years Qualcomm has filed eleven patent suits against Nokia seeking damages and injunctions.

The latest claims made by Nokia refer to patent counter suits against Qualcomm for its infringement of six Nokia implementation patents used in Qualcomm GSM/WCDMA and CDMA2000 chipsets.

According to Reuters news agency, Rick Simonson, Nokia Chief Financial Officer, said "First and foremost, this is a counteraction. Since they are seeking injunction against us, we are doing this reciprocally." He went on, "we believe very strongly Qualcomm has copied our implementation patents." A cross-licensing agreement over technology patents between the companies expired last month, fuelling the lawsuits and unnerving investors in Europe and America.