Nokia is suing Apple over patent infringement in both the U.S. and in Europe. The Finnish company took to their blog today to announce the news. Nokia states that there are multiple complaints involved and that the lawsuit in Europe was specifically filed with the Regional Courts in Germany, but also in three separate cities in the country including Munich, Mannheim, and Dusseldorf. In the U.S., Nokia has so far only filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, but they plan to open more complaints in more jurisdictions and are currently in the process of working to do just that. They did not however, mention which districts those would be, just that they have plans to do so.
In regards to the technology, Nokia is filing complaints over Apple’s infringement and use of patents regarding technology in displays, video coding, antennas, software, user interface, and chipsets. Nokia has not gone into specifics just yet on what features or hardware in Apple products are infringing on these technologies, or which Apple products are the ones in relation to the complaints, although it’s likely that they’re referring to the iPhone or iPad. That being said, Nokia’s lawsuit seems to be covering multiple Apple devices as the technology seems to span a wide range, and they do mention that the technology patents are being used in “many” of Apple’s products.
According to Nokia, Apple had licensed some technologies used in their products back in 2011, and Nokia was attempting to come to an agreement to have them license remaining technologies that were allegedly being used by Apple. They mention that since that time they have been unsuccessful in getting Apple to reach an agreement over the patent licensing which has led to the lawsuit that is now being filed. In total there are 32 different patents that Nokia states Apple is allegedly infringing upon. In addition to this new lawsuit with Nokia, Apple has been in court with another big-name brand throughout the years – Samsung. The two tech giants have been battling over patent infringement and most recently with the Supreme Court, who ruled that the case was to be moved back to the U.S. Court of Appeals.