Nokia tells ITC: Apple infringes on 1 of 7 patents with virtually all of its products

As we've previously reported, Nokia is suing Apple claiming that the latter is infringing on patents registered by the Finnish-based company. Nokia has taken the dispute to the U.S.International Trade Commission, saying that out of 7 Nokia patents,  Apple infringes on at least one of them with every phone, music player, or computer it sells. The patents deal with innovations made by Nokia that are now being used by Apple to produce important features in the area of user interface, camera, antenna and power management. Nokia would like to keep these innovations for its own products as they help lower manufacturing costs, improve user experiences with devices, improve battery life and reduce the size of Nokia products. All of these items are things that are competitive selling points in electronics. The General Manager of Patent Licensing at Nokia, Paul Melin, says, "This action is about protecting the results of such pioneering development. While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple's attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple's practice of building its business on Nokia's proprietary innovation." Harsh words indeed, but Nokia does have a lot to protect. According to the company's press release, the Finnish based firm has spent $40 billion Euros in R&D over the last 2 decades with over 11,000 patent families. After doing an investigation, the ITC can prevent imports of a product that infringes on a patent making this a very important battle for both firms.

source: Nokia