Dutch court rejects Nokia's case against Qualcomm

Mumbai: A Dutch court has rejected Nokia''s patent-licensing case against mobile technology provider Qualcomm Inc, saying its jurisdiction was limited and that Nokia''s complaint was too broad to give a reasoned decision.

A three-judge bench at the court in The Hague ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction to rule on its claims outside of the Netherlands. Nokia, the judges said, had also not presented enough information on the specific patents and licensing agreements.

Nokia, the world''s largest mobile phone maker and technology provider Qualcomm, which have key cross-licensing agreements across the US and the United States, are at odds against each other over technology patents after the expiry of their agreement in April 2007.

Nokia says that it should not have to pay for technology provided by San Diego-based Qualcomm, because Qualcomm''s technology is already licensed to a supplier of Nokia''s mobile phone chips, Texas Instruments. A German court in Mannheim had dismissed Nokia''s case against Qualcomm last month on similar grounds.

Nokia wanted the Dutch and German courts to rule Qualcomm''s patents were exhausted and that it should not be able to charge twice for its patents, billing first chipset suppliers and then also handset makers.

Nokia said the court dismissed the case based on the scope of claims made by Nokia, rather than the patent issue itself.