Nokia, Qualcomm settle patent disputes; enter 15-year alliance

Mumbai: Ending a bitter legal battle than spanned the US, Asia and the European Union, Nokia and Qualcomm today announced that they have entered into a 15-year agreement covering various standards including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMAX, and LTE.

Under the terms of their agreement Nokia has a license to use all of Qualcomm patents in its mobile phones and network equipment and in return it agreed not to use its patents against Qualcomm, allowing the company to use Nokia technology in its chipsets.

Nokia agreed to make an upfront payment and ongoing royalties to Qualcomm.

Nokia, the world's leading handset maker and Qualcomm, the biggest maker of chips for mobile phones, said ''the agreement will result in settlement of all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission."

Qualcomm will integrate Nokia's technology into its chipsets under the cross-licensing deal, which may include an upfront payment and ongoing royalties for Qualcomm.

The new agreement covers various standards, including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMax, LTE and other technologies.

Nokia will assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA, declared as essential to 2G, 3G and 4G standards. The specific terms are, however, confidential.

''We believe that this agreement is positive for the industry, enabling the market to benefit from innovation and new technologies," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia chief executive.

''The positive financial impact of this agreement is within Nokia's original expectations and fully reflects our leading intellectual property and market positions," he added.

''I'm very pleased that we have come to this important agreement. The terms of the new licence agreement, including the financial and other value provided to Qualcomm, reflect our strong intellectual property position across many current and future generation technologies. This agreement paves the way for enhanced opportunities between the companies in a number of areas," said Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm.

Qualcomm delayed the release of its fiscal third-quarter results on Wednesday after a Delaware judge postponed a trial in its licensing case against Nokia Corp. The trial was postponed until Thursday morning.

Nokia is the world leader in mobile phone technology while Qualcomm is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies.