Great news for Nokia fans and investors!! HTC which has suffered defeats in multiple patent lawsuits with Nokia in Germany and UK has caved in finally, and has entered in a royalty bearing patent licensing agreement with Nokia. Nokia has announced this in a press release today.
Nokia had been suing HTC in total 7 countries. It last won injunction against in HTC in Germany in the beginning of February. This win took its tally of wins against HTC to 4 in only Germany and this was the 3rd win in last two months. Nokia has also won an injunction in UK and famously quoted that “HTC’s new year’s resolution should be to stop infringing Nokia patents”.
Well, HTC has now taken some heed it seems, and stopped playing stubborn!! With one Android vendor already confirmed to violate Nokia patents and paying royalties to Nokia, many more can follow suit.
Press release:
All patent litigation between the companies dismissed.
Espoo, Finland – Nokia and HTC have settled all pending patent litigation between them, and entered into a patent and technology collaboration agreement. HTC will make payments to Nokia and the collaboration will involve HTC’s LTE patent portfolio, further strengthening Nokia’s licensing offering. The companies will also explore future technology collaboration opportunities. The full terms of the agreement are confidential.
“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,” said Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia. “This agreement validates Nokia’s implementation patents and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities.”
“Nokia has one of the most preeminent patent portfolios in the industry,” said Grace Lei, General Counsel of HTC. “As an industry pioneer in smartphones with a strong patent portfolio, HTC is pleased to come to this agreement, which will enable us to stay focused on innovation for consumers.”
