ESPOO, Finland, May 24 /LAWFUEL- The Law News Wire — Nokia (NYSE:NOK) today announced it has responded to the Qualcomm lawsuit filed in the Western District of Wisconsin on 2 April, 2007. Nokia remains confident that its products do not infringe either of the two Qualcomm patents-in-suit and asserts that both patents are invalid.
Nokia also filed, in the same court, patent counter assertions against Qualcomm for its infringement of six Nokia implementation patents used in Qualcomm GSM/WCDMA and CDMA2000 chipsets. These six patents are not essential for the practice of standards, however they provide substantial benefits when used. In its previous litigation filings Qualcomm has sought injunctions against Nokia. Therefore, Nokia is seeking damages and also an injunction against Qualcomm’s infringing chipsets.
“Over the past 19 months Qualcomm has filed 11 patent litigation cases against Nokia seeking damages and injunctions,” said Rick Simonson, chief financial officer, Nokia. “Nokia has now filed its first counter action to address Qualcomm’s unauthorized use of Nokia technology. We will continue to defend ourselves and exercise all rights according to our extensive IPR portfolio.”
The implementation patents cited in the Nokia counterclaim filing
relate primarily to multi-band/multi-mode technologies, that allow seamless and transparent roaming for consumers, and direct conversion technologies that reduce handset and chipset size, cost and power consumption. These
technologies have had a significant role in the success of Nokia devices.
Qualcomm, through its unauthorized use of Nokia patents, has copied these
innovations and made them available to its chipset customers.
Since the early 1990’s Nokia has pioneered the development of a number of technologies that have enabled the creation of smaller and less
expensive devices and have improved the user experience for consumers.
Nokia has built one of the strongest and broadest IPR portfolios in the wireless industry over the last 15 years through extensive investments in research and development. Nokia will continue to vigorously defend itself
against infringement and unauthorized use of its intellectual property.
About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth
and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.
It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not
historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the
timing of product and solution deliveries; B) our ability to develop,
implement and commercialize new products, solutions and technologies; C)
expectations regarding market growth, developments and structural changes;
D) expectations regarding our mobile device volume growth, market share,
prices and margins; E) expectations and targets for our results of
operations; F) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation; and G)
statements preceded by “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “foresee,”
“target,” “estimate,” “designed,” “plans,” “will” or similar expressions
are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s
best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently
available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual
results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect.
Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to:
1) competitiveness of our product portfolio; 2) our ability to identify key
market trends and to respond timely and successfully to the needs of our
customers; 3) the extent of the growth of the mobile communications
industry, as well as the growth and profitability of the new market
segments within that industry which we target; 4) the availability of new
products and services by network operators and other market participants;
5) our ability to successfully manage costs; 6) the intensity of
competition in the mobile communications industry and our ability to
maintain or improve our market position and respond successfully to changes
in the competitive landscape; 7) the impact of changes in technology and
our ability to develop or otherwise acquire complex technologies as
required by the market, with full rights needed to use; 8) timely and
successful commercialization of complex technologies as new advanced
products and solutions; 9) our ability to protect the complex technologies,
which we or others develop or that we license, from claims that we have
infringed third parties’ intellectual property rights, as well as our
unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies
in our products and solution offerings; 10) our ability to protect numerous
Nokia patented, standardized, or proprietary technologies from third party
infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of
these technologies; 11) our ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing
and logistics, as well as to ensure the quality, safety, security and
timely delivery of our products and solutions; 12) inventory management
risks resulting from shifts in market demand; 13) our ability to source
quality components and sub-assemblies without interruption and at
acceptable prices; 14) Nokia’s and Siemens’ ability to successfully
integrate the operations, personnel and supporting activities of their
respective businesses as a result of the merger of Nokia’s networks
business and Siemens’ carrier-related operations for fixed and mobile
networks forming Nokia Siemens Networks; 15) whether, as a result of
investigations into alleged violations of law by some current or former
employees of Siemens, government authorities or others take actions against
Siemens and/or its employees that may involve and affect the
carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia
Siemens Networks, or there may be undetected additional violations that may
have occurred prior to the transfer, or ongoing violations that may occur
after the transfer, of such assets and employees that could result in
additional actions by government authorities; 16) the expense, time,
attention and resources of Nokia Siemens Networks and our management to
detect, investigate and resolve any situations related to alleged
violations of law involving the assets and employees of Siemens
carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; 17) any
impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer relationships resulting from
the ongoing government investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related
operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; 18) developments under
large, multi-year contracts or in relation to major customers; 19) general economic conditions globally and, in particular, economic or political turmoil in emerging market countries where we do business; 20) our success in collaboration arrangements relating to development of technologies or new products and solutions; 21) the success, financial condition and performance of our collaboration partners, suppliers and customers; 22) any disruption to information technology systems and networks that our operations rely on; 23) exchange rate fluctuations, including, in particular, fluctuations between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Chinese yuan, the UK pound sterling and the Japanese yen, as well as certain other currencies; 24) the management of our customer financing exposure; 25) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile devices and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; 26) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 27) our ability to recruit, retain and develop appropriately
skilled employees; and 28) the impact of changes in government policies,
laws or regulations; as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-24
of the company’s annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2006 under “Item 3.D Risk Factors.” Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
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