German court dismisses Nokia patent claims against HTC

Taiwan's top smartphone maker HTC said Wednesday it was "delighted" after a German court dismissed another patent infringement complaint brought against it by Finnish phone giant Nokia.

The District Court of Mannheim in southwest Germany dismissed the complaint on a patent regarding "a communication network terminal for accessing Internet" on Tuesday and awarded HTC its legal costs, the company said.

In a rare move, the court handed down its judgment immediately after the hearing, indicating that "Nokia's infringement case was so poor that the court required no time to deliberate further", it said in a statement.

In March, the same German court also dismissed two patent complaints filed by Nokia against HTC and awarded the Taiwan firm its legal costs.

"Together these decisions cast serious doubt on the strength of Nokia's patent portfolio and we remain confident that it poses little threat to HTC. HTC is delighted with this decision," it said.

Technology giants have taken to routinely pounding one another with patent lawsuits. Apple has accused HTC and other smartphone makers using Google's Android mobile operating system of infringing on Apple-held patents.

HTC and Apple were locked in more than 20 cases worldwide until they reached a global settlement late last year to end all outstanding litigation between them.

HTC sells its own smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including Google's Nexus One.

(c) 2013 AFP