Nokia to Sue Apple
Finland’s mobile phone giant Nokia is planning to sue Apple for their failure to pass on royalties from their sales of the immensely popular iPhone.
Apple are said to have infringed upon Nokia’s mobile phone technology patents when developing the iPhone.
How much Nokia will be seeking has not yet been confirmed, but expert analyst Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray predicts that Nokia will seek 1-2% from every iPhone that is sold.
Over 30 million have been sold to date which would generate between $6 and $12 per iPhone, potentially totalling $400m.
Apple has recently announced third quarter profits of £1bn with the iPhone delivering a 7% growth, having to pass on 1-2% of its iPhone royalties would be relatively insignificant.
On the other hand, Nokia revealed a loss for the last quarter due to a downturn in sales; the first in a decade.
Nokia has confirmed agreements with approximately 40 companies, which included the majority of mobile phone handset makers, allowing the use of its technological advancements, but Apple had not signed the agreement.
Ilkka Rahnasto, vice-president of legal and intellectual property at Nokia explained, “the basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for.”
“Apple is also expected to follow this principle.”
Mr Rahnasto went on to say, that Nokia has actually invested over £36bn on research and development in the past two decades.
Highly respected Apple expert Mr Munster has confessed that a sum of $12 per phone was “unlikely,” but if Nokia did manage to prise such a high figure out of Apple, it “would not change our positive thesis on the iPhone and Apple.” He went on to add, that “ultimately, the resolution is uncertain.”
The BBC sought further information from Apple, but a spokesman for the technology giant revealed that the company didn’t comment on pending litigation.
Nokia have alleged a total of 10 patent infringements, applying to all models from the iPhone range since its 2007 launch. Some of the patents that have been allegedly breeched include wireless data technology, speech coding, encryption and security. Nokia went on to accuse Apple of “trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.”
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