Nokia Sues Apple Over iPhone
Mobile phone giant Nokia declared an intellectual property war against Apple today, alleging the iPhone infringes on 10 patents relating to wireless technologies and standards.
Of course, the lawsuit has nothing to do with Nokia losing smartphone market share to Apple, as the chart from AdMob indicates (Nokia owns Symbian OS), and the legal action couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Nokia’s latest earnings report. Last quarter, the mobile phone maker lost $832 million, sales declining 20 percent year over year. No, Nokia is going after Apple on “principle.”
The patents in question relate to GSM, UMTS, and wireless LAN standards covering “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.” Nokia states that more than 40 companies have entered into licensing agreements, but not “unprincipled” Apple.
According to Ilkka Rahnasto, VP of Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia, it is a “basic principle” in the industry that those contributing to technological development be compensated. Apple is “attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.” Supposedly, every iPhone introduced since 2007 uses technology that infringes on Nokia patents.
Considering Nokia didn’t sue Apple in 2007 and seek an injunction to stop the iPhone from being sold, it’s likely this lawsuit is a way of moving stalled royalty negotiations forward. Apple will probably settle. A guess of $10 per iPhone in royalties would be $210 million to date, not an insignificant amount, and a little less profit off each iPhone going forward, but someone has to help Nokia innovate.
Tweet This (56)
Jack on October 22nd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
“Our principle is that if our products can’t win in the market our patents will.”
J
Anti-Fanboy on October 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Heaven forbid crapple pay for someone else’s innovation.
Griff on October 22nd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Nokia and Apple have been negotiating since iPhone came out in 2007..
Negotiations have just broken down.
Every other handset manufacturer pays license fees for Nokia patents.
Apple just think they are above the law, that’s all…
Eric Knibbe on October 22nd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Wasn’t it Paul Graham who wrote something about giant lawsuits being the first sign of a company lapsing into obsolescence?
Cell phone reviews on October 23rd, 2009 at 1:01 am
The iPhone has been out for years with this tech, and Nokia is just now saying something? That’s ridiculous, and petty, and quite frankly looks desperate.
nuname on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:36 am
*agrees with “desperate”
Michael on October 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 am
That’s like software patents in the USA. Absolute nonsense. It’s a market where so many people are working, they often have the same ideas. But one is the first to patent it.
mobiThinking on October 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 am
It’s important to note that the AdMob stats you quote aren’t market share.
AdMob counts the number of adverts it serves to particular types of phones. So if users of a particular phone are on unlimited data plans – as most iPhone users are – or if AdMob is particularly strong in advertising iPhone-only applications – which it is – then it would look like Apple has a larger share of the market than it has.
For sales figures, you’d be better looking to a research company like Gartner. The top five smartphone vendors in Q2 2009: Nokia (45 percent); Research in Motion (18.7 percent); Apple (13.3 percent); HTC (6.0 percent); Fujitsu (3.0 percent); others (13.9 percent). http://www.mobithinking.com/blog/latest-mobile-stats -
Yes apple is gaining share, and Nokia is probably concerned about it, but they’re not neck and neck in smartphones as suggested by the stats quoted. Also smartphones are only about 14 percent of the cell-phone market, so how much market share is Nokia really losing to Apple?
Nokia isn’t the first company to sue Apple. And Apple isn’t adverse to a bit of legal action itself. Is this a lot more serious than what we commonly see in the tech business? What do the legal experts say?
Whatever you think, you’ve got to respect Nokia for how they’ve managed it – look at all the free PR they milked out of it and the case hasn’t even started yet.
Staff Comment Charles Jade, TheAppleBlog on October 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 am
Whether its derivative statistics from AdMob or Net Applications, or actual numbers from NPD or IDG or whoever, all point in the same direction for Nokia’s market share: down. As for the lawsuit itself, perhaps it’s just the self-righteous indignation that I found so amusing and deserving of ridicule. Two years ago, Nokia was calling Qualcomm a “serial litigator” over patent lawsuits directed against Nokia. So much for principles.
Richard on October 23rd, 2009 at 6:13 am
Thanks for pointing this out – I think putting the Admob chart out there without this background information is a little deceptive. I know, this is an Apple blog but the RDF might not necessarily work beyond Infinity Loop ; )
Richard on October 23rd, 2009 at 6:15 am
Oh and the comment above was meant for Mobithinking’s post, I thought I replied directly to that post, but not indicated visually
andre on October 23rd, 2009 at 7:15 am
what’s up with the ironic tone? apple can’t be sued? this type of fanatical articles are really annoying.
so apple infringes nokia patents, refuse to pay for 2 years, nokia decide to sue and you think nokia are ridicule? swap apple with nokia in the previous sentence and see if you still feel the same.
i like apple and macs but slightly more objective writing wouldn’t be bad.
Farhoud on October 23rd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Oo Common Andre! come to daddy:D It’s about the power of Apple Inc. With only one smart phone they are simply on top Nokia and that’s the reality Nokia can’t accept it! You know about the Apple tech and you can not deny it.
AKINLADE on October 25th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
All i see is that with iphone, i am alive.
5800 on November 8th, 2009 at 12:38 am
yearh nokias innovations
updateXpensiveitouch on November 11th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
All I see is iPhone. All I see are Nokia’s patents. All I see is iTouch, the iPhone without Nokia’s patents.