Nokia is announcing today that it has signed a patent and "technology collaboration agreement" with HTC. The settlement ends months of pending patent litigation between the two firms, and means HTC will make payments to Nokia. Both firms will work together on HTC’s LTE patent portfolio, and "future technology collaboration opportunities." Full terms of the agreement are being kept confidential.
Nokia and HTC sign patent agreement, end all litigation
is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.
Another patent battle bites the dust
"We are very pleased to have reached a settlement and collaboration agreement with HTC, which is a long-standing licensee for Nokia's standards essential patents," says Paul Melin, Nokia's chief intellectual property officer. Nokia sued HTC, RIM, and ViewSonic in 2012 for infringing 45 patents around the world. Nokia’s patents covered hardware features like antennas, radios, and power management, as well as software features like multitasking, navigation, app stores, retrieving email attachments on mobile, "conversational" message display, dynamic menus, and certain types of data encryption.
The agreement with HTC puts an end to Nokia’s aggressive licensing tactics, but as the terms are being kept confidential it’s unclear exactly how much HTC has to pay. Nokia and Apple settled its patents disputes back in 2011, and Apple paid a one-time fee of €430M. HTC says it’s "pleased to come to this agreement, which will enable us to stay focused on innovation for consumers."
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