Nokia and RIM Settle Patent Disputes Between the Companies

From X-bit Labs: Nokia Corp. has entered into a new patent license agreement with Research In Motion. The agreement will result in settlement of all existing patent litigation between the companies and withdrawal of pending actions in the U.S., UK and Canada related to a recent arbitration tribunal decision.

"We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM and reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect our unique product differentiation. This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market," said Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia.

The financial structure of the agreement includes a one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia. The specific terms of the agreement are confidential.

Back in November, Nokia demanded courts in several countries to stop sales of smartphones from Research in Motion with support for Wi-Fi technology, or virtually all the Blackberry handsets that are available on the market today. Earlier, the Espoo, Finland-based won a patent dispute with RIM.

Nokia and RIM signed a cross-licensing agreement covering certain cellular essential patents back in 2003. In 2011, RIM sought arbitration, arguing that the license extended beyond cellular essentials, particular to Wi-Fi technologies. In 2008 the agreement was prolonged. But later on Nokia divested certain patents to MobileMedia Ideas, a firm set up by Nokia, Sony and MPEG LA to manage intellectual property contributed by Nokia and Sony. RIM contended that the patents in question were covered by its earlier deal with Nokia, and argued as proof that Nokia never sought to enforce them until they were divested to MMI. In November 2012, the arbitration tribunal ruled against RIM.

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