(The Guardian) The struggling Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has settled its patent dispute with the BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) in return for payments, as it tries to exploit its technology patents to boost its finances.
Terms of the agreement are confidential, but Nokia said on Friday they included RIM making a one-time payment to be booked in the fourth quarter, as well as paying ongoing fees.
Nokia is one of the industry's top patent holders, having invested €45bn (£36.6bn) in mobile research and development over the past two decades.
The company has been trying to make use of that legacy to ensure its survival, amid a fall in sales and cash. It is battling to recover lost ground in the lucrative smartphone market to the likes of Apple and Samsung.
The agreement with RIM settles existing patent litigation between the companies, Nokia said, adding that similar disputes with HTC and ViewSonic were ongoing.
"This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market," said chief intellectual property officer Paul Melin.
Nokia has earned about €500m a year from patent royalties in key areas of mobile telephony. Some analysts have said it could earn hundreds of millions more if it were able to negotiate successfully with more companies.
Analysts estimated its June 2011 settlement with Apple as being worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Comments