Mobile Computing News

Photo: Nokia

The Apple Nokia legal battle, which is widely expected to be protracted, may take even more time now, with Nokia suing Apple yet again. This time the suit includes the iPad as well as the iPhone and relates to how Apple’s devices transmit speech and data, as well as the effect that has on form factor. The suit alleges no less than five additional Nokia patents are infringed by Apple’s devices.

Filed in Wisconsin

Photo: Apple

This particular suit was filed in Wisconsin, a district known for bringing infringement cases to trial or settled within 12 months, indicating Nokia may not be interested in the suit being protracted, but given the gravity of the judgement on telecoms as a whole, this sidestep may be nothing more than just that.

What exactly is the suit?

Boiled down, this particular Apple Nokia suit relates to how certain transmission technologies have allowed for better ‘product performance and design’. Nokia’s official press release also goes into detail about just how many patents the company has and how much R&D it has done in the last 20 years, totaling an amazing € 40 billion and yielding 11,000 Nokia patent families.

Why, again?

Photo: Android

The big question is still why? Outside of Apple actually infringing on Nokia’s patents – which is highly likely given the sheer volume of patents Nokia holds – this move is as much about claiming licensing royalty as it is about derailing Apple somewhat. Nokia has been slipping in the smartphone market segment, with iPhone OS (and Google Android) being significantly superior mobile OSes than Symbian ever was.

With this move, Nokia will either settle, collecting invaluable royalties from licensing its tech to Apple, or receive a massive upfront payday. If not for either of those outcomes and in the event Nokia loses the case, the Finnish telecoms giant hopes it can distract Apple enough that Symbian^4 and MeeGo make inroads in the mobile OS space.

Regardless, if Apple is indeed infringing on Nokia patents, then Nokia has every right to claim, but it would be better if each company focused all its resources on innovation instead of going into expensive and draining legal battles. All the Apple Nokia lawsuit does is distract from what matters most.