Nokia sues Apple over patents
Nokia, the giant Finnish cell-phone maker, has sued Apple for not paying fees for patents which Nokia owns, saying that not paying those fees has given the iPhone an unfair advantage on price.
Basically, Nokia says in its filing that Apple has gained unfair advantage by not paying those fees, and that is why it has nearly equaled Nokia in revenue in the brief two years that Apple has been in the smartphone business. The suit fled by Nokia describes, among other things, that “a competitive disadvantage to ‘free-riders’ such as Apple.” This, of course, intimates that the properties of the iPhone itself, as compared to Nokia products, has nothing to do with Nokia’s loss of market share.
Most observers do not see the situation that way. Avi Greengart, an analyst who covers consumer devices for market research firm Current Analysis, says, “We’re definitely seeing an erosion of Nokia’s ability to excite consumers with a device. They should be afraid of Apple, very afraid.” Over the last several quarters, Nokia’s share of the market has shrunk at just about the same rate as Apple’s has grown, to the extent that iPhone revenues have almost pulled even with Nokia’s revenues, even though Nokia is a much older company and has been in the market longer.
Although Nokia does not ask for a specific amount in the suit, the damages assessed against Apple could be huge if they lose the Nokia lawsuit, according to a San Jose Mercury-News story. It is not known how much Nokia charges other cell phone manufacturers for the use of the patents involved in the suit, or even if Apple is guilty of infringement, but a judgment against Nokia in a similar suit brought by Qualcomm could be a harbinger of the kind of money involved in the Apple lawsuit. In the case brought by Qualcomm, Nokia was assessed $3.5 billion in damages.
It may take a while for these sorts of suits to work themselves out. The cell phone business is new, the patents are many, the countries that issued the patents are various, and there is almost certainly a lot of contentious ground yet to cover. There is some chance that this could become a patent money merry-go-round, with most of the players winding up where they were, financially, before the lawsuits started. As usual, the people that will have eventually profited are the attorneys.
Related Posts:
