Nokia has broadened its patent fight with Apple to include the iPad, deepening the bitter legal disputes between the two smartphone rivals.
The firms turned to the courts in the last year, as Nokia battles Apple in the fast-growing smartphone market. Nokia claimed that the iPhone breached several of its patents. Apple then countersued Nokia, accusing the smartphone market leader of stealing its technology.
Now Nokia has filed a a second complaint, alleging Apple’s iPhone and iPad 3G products infringe five of its patents. “Apple is continuing to seek a free ride on the back of Nokia patents,” said a Nokia spokesman.
At the end of the day, they are both tech-rich companies with tremendous IP and are probably both ‘borrowing’ each others’ technology to some extent
The patents have not been covered in Nokia’s previous legal actions against Apple, and relate to antenna technologies, technologies for enhanced speech and data transmission, and to using positional data in applications.
“By moving the litigation to another state Nokia is making another move in the complex game of intellectual property chess it is playing with Apple,” said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.
“On this occasion it is interesting to see it choosing patent areas such as antenna design where it has developed competence over many years,” Wood added.
Other experts believe the cases are tit for tat. “I think the Nokia/Apple lawsuits are a lot of noise,” said Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall. “At the end of the day, they are both tech-rich companies with tremendous IP and are probably both ‘borrowing’ each others’ technology to some extent.
“My guess is this lasts for years and they both issue some cross licenses to each other,” he said.
Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.
