Apple Agrees to Pay Nokia in Patent Fight -- WSJ
May 24 2017 - 3:03AM
Dow Jones News
By Dominic Chopping and Sam Schechner
Apple Inc. and Nokia Corp. settled dueling lawsuits over what
Apple should pay for intellectual property used in its iPhone, a
surprisingly quick end to what analysts had said could have been
years of litigation.
The companies didn't disclose financial terms, but said Tuesday
that Apple has agreed to make an upfront cash payment to Nokia,
with additional payments over the term of the "multiyear" deal. The
companies also said that Apple will resume selling Nokia's digital
health products -- which include Withings-branded connected objects
-- in Apple retail and online stores. Nokia has said it is devoting
considerable investment in that product line.
The quick resolution to the deal surprised patent experts who
had been expecting a drawn-out fight over multiple countries. The
deal could also help cash flow and product sales for Nokia, whose
stock rose more than 6% in early afternoon trading.
Analysts said the agreement frees up legal resources for Apple,
which is locked in an intensifying patent fight with Qualcomm Inc.
over how much Apple should pay for intellectual property used in
Apple products.
"It sounds like business considerations other than patents
played a role here," said Florian Mueller, an independent
intellectual property analyst. He said: "This deal should allow
Apple to focus on the dispute with Qualcomm, which is economically
and strategically much bigger."
At the end of last year, Nokia confirmed it had filed actions
against Apple in 11 countries in total, saying the U.S. company
violated 40 of its patents covering technologies such as display,
user interface, software, antenna, chipsets and video coding.
At the same time, Apple filed a suit in the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of California, arguing that Nokia
excluded some patents from a 2011 agreement and transferred them to
third-party companies "to be used for extorting excessive
royalties" from Apple. It asked the court to award damages and rule
that Nokia breached its contract.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com and Sam
Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 24, 2017 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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