Nokia denies infringing Qualcomm patents
THE HAGUE, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Nokia Oyj (NOK1V.HE) told a Dutch court on Friday it is not infringing patents of U.S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) as the cellphone maker uses chips of Texas Instruments Inc, which already pays for Qualcomm patents.
Nokia and Qualcomm have been in a legal dispute after part of a licensing deal over technology patents expired on April 9. Their increasingly bitter fight is worrying investors and the industry on both sides of the Atlantic.
Qualcomm is suing Nokia in Germany and the United States for infringing some of its patents for GSM technology, the world's most widely used wireless technology standard.
Nokia's lawyer Wouter Pors told a court in The Hague that the world's top cellphone maker is not infringing patents of Qualcomm, which he said was "fighting a war against Nokia."
Pors said Qualcomm technology ends up in Nokia phones through chips from U.S. chipmaker Texas Instruments (TI) (TXN.N), which pays for the use of Qualcomm patents.
"Nokia does not need an agreement with Qualcomm because those rights have been exhausted in (Qualcomm's) agreement with Texas Instruments," Pors said.
Qualcomm was abusing its market position by demanding payments both from chip makers and their clients, Pors said.
Yet Qualcomm lawyer Bart van den Broek said the chip maker has the right to seek payments from TI's clients and that there was no "exhaustion" of patent rights when Nokia used TI chips.
Analysts estimate Nokia had been paying Qualcomm about $500 million per year before the patent expiry and wanted to reduce this cost. Nokia says its patent portfolio is much stronger now than 15 years ago, when the original licensing deal was signed.
Nokia filed a Dutch lawsuit against Qualcomm as TI chips arrive first in the Netherlands before being shipped to Nokia plants in Finland, Germany and Hungary, Nokia lawyer Pors said.
The court will rule on Oct. 31, the court's judge said.
A German court in Mannheim will rule on Oct. 23 whether it will consider a Nokia suit against Qualcomm, lawyers Pors and Van de Broek said. This case also addresses Qualcomm patents that end up in Nokia phones through TI chips.
