In Brief: Nokia settles dispute with InterDigital
Nokia and InterDigital Friday resolved a contract dispute over a patent license agreement signed in 1999 for $253 million.
The dispute was regarding the impact of InterDigital's licenses with Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson to Nokia.
The settlements resolve the legal disputes related to 2G products. Under the settlement agreements, Nokia obtains a fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable license to all of InterDigital's current patent portfolio, and any patents InterDigital may later acquire, for purposes of making or selling 2G products, including handsets and infrastructure.
"Our prior contract agreement required us to respect the settlements that Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson entered in 2003, but there was a dispute about the impact those other settlements should have on Nokia, " said Ilkka Rahnasto, vice president of intellectual-property rights at Nokia. "This case demonstrates that legal disputes are sometimes necessary in order to lower unrealistic demands."
Copyright 2006 by United Press International