The battle between Apple and Nokia has finally come to an end after 20 months of dispute. The battle was in regards to the lawsuit that Nokia filed against Apple in 2009, stating that they were crossing the patent border.
The Finnish giant alleged that all iPhones violated 10 of their Espoo patents that were associated with Wi-Fi, GSM, and UMTS. Nokia continued to state that countless of other companies had paid for a license in order to make use of the technology, yet Apple was the only one to disagree on the terms. Finally, this has been settled and it has been decided that Apple must make one single payment upfront but also continuing allowances to the Espoo-based giant.
The detailed stipulations of the agreement are not to be disclosed. In addition, the resolution also includes that both parties will proceed to remove their complaints from the United States ITC (International Trade Commission). Nokia continued to announce that they were very satisfied with the conclusion of the 20-month litigation, and that they were more than happy to finally have Apple onboard as one of their licensees.
Stephen Elop, president of Nokia, stated that this agreement evidences their assortment of leading technologies, and also allows them to make emphasis on future chances in the growing mobile communications industry
Nokia has always pushed the research and development .departments within their company. Their reports show that in the last 20 years their investment rises to an estimated amount of 43 billion Euros. Their portfolio includes more than 10,000 patents which makes them one of the most prestigious and well recognized companies in the world. In addition, there are more than 1.3 billion people making use of Nokia for connection purposes.
Nonetheless, when the problems started between Apple and Nokia, it seemed that the main problem was the refusal of Apple to pay the rate that Nokia was demanding for their patents. This refusal led to the litigation battle until Apple finally realized that it was perhaps cheaper to simply come to an agreement.
Besides all the fuss that has been going on between the two giants, Nokia will soon start to make its migration to using Windows Phone 7 as their platform. Other reports have shown that even with Microsoft’s new release of the Mango Phone, their market share doesn’t even comprise one percent of the whole pie.
Since the specific details of written agreement are to remain confidential, it isn’t exactly clear what led the two companies to finally agree to settle. Newer reports have stated that part of the deal also involved a cross license of a few of the patents which at the end might have made Nokia the champion of the dispute.