Sponsored Links

UPDATE 1-Nokia hits back at Google in latest patent war tussle

Fri Jun 1, 2012 7:03am EDT

HELSINKI, June 1 (Reuters) - Nokia struck back at Google on Friday over its accusation that the cellphone maker was colluding with Microsoft to make money out of their patents.

"Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said on Friday.

"Both companies have their own intellectual property rights portfolios and strategies and operate independently."

He also said that some Android devices had "significant (intellectual property) infringement issues" relating to Nokia's patents.

Google, in a formal complaint to the European Commission, said Microsoft and Nokia had transferred 1,200 patents to MOSAID, a so-called "patent troll" which makes money by taking legal action over patent infringements.

Nokia and Microsoft cooperate on smartphones that compete with Google's Android devices. The Finnish phone maker shifted from its own Symbian software in favor of Microsoft Windows in February 2011.

Google's accusations highlight current cut-throat competition in the mobile phone business where companies, including Nokia, are fighting to assert intellectual property rights over wireless technologies.

Nokia's patents have become valuable and stable assets for the company, particularly at a time when falling handset sales and a loss of market share threaten its future.

Nokia has already sued Android device makers HTC and ViewSonic for infringing its patents and is expected to go after others.

Nokia already earns 500 million euros ($618.22 million) a year from its patent royalties in key areas of mobile telephony and some analysts have said a more determined application of its patent rights could boost its income by hundreds more millions of euros a year.

Microsoft said earlier that Google's complaint about antitrust in the smartphone industry was a "desperate tactic" from a company that controls more than 95 percent of mobile search and advertising.
Stocks
Markets
Media
Industrials
Technology
Telecommuncations Services
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
GRRR wrote:
Surely, surely, surely Nokia’s PR folks must realize that it’s not a stretch that, after committing billions of dollars between them towards collaboration and pushing out lies about Android, and knowing that Nokia’s CEO Elop was a former Microsoft division manager…

that there may have been some shenanigans between Ballmer and Elop, to cut down the competition by using an end-run around regulators.

Or put it this way: when hasn’t Microsoft not been obsessed with Google?

Jun 01, 2012 11:28am EDT  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »