Nokia, Qualcomm shelve litigation, reach licensing agreement

Nokia and Qualcomm have agreed to shelve all litigation between themselves, including a complaint by Nokia to the European Commission, after reaching a new licensing agreement that covers a number of major wireless technologies.

The agreement comes hours after the German Federal Patent Court ruled that a Qualcomm GSM patent claim against Nokia is invalid. The German ruling was the latest in a string of court battles that began in 2006 and has seen the two companies, both leaders in the wireless industry, arguing in front of the U.K.'s High Court, the U.S. International Trade Commission. Another case in the U.S. was due to begin on Wednesday.

[ Related reading: Nokia claims victory over Qualcomm in ongoing patent battle ]

The agreement is a 15-year one that covers wireless standards including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMax and LTE. They are all cellular voice or wireless data technologies.

Nokia has been granted a license to use all Qualcomm patents in its mobile devices and in network infrastructure equipment manufactured by Nokia Siemens Networks. It has also agreed not to use any of its patents directly against Qualcomm so that Qualcomm can integrate Nokia's technology into Qualcomm's chipsets. Additionally, Nokia has agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA.

The agreement also includes an up-front financial payment and on-going royalties from Nokia to Qualcomm. The value of these was not disclosed.

IDG News Service

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