Apple Store on Fifth Avenue , New York City. Image: Reuters.
The fight between Apple and Nokia taking an ugly twist, that shows a serious disagreement between the two corporations over patents utilized in smartphones and tablets. Apple’s existing patent agreement with Nokia is about to lapse at the top of the year. because the point approached, Apple filed an action against Nokia, and Nokia responded with a patent infringement suit. The legal battle sent Nokia shares tumbling.
When Nokia announced that it had sued Apple, Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Patent Business at Nokia, said, “Through our sustained investment in analysis and development, Nokia has created or contributed to several of the elemental technologies employed in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products. after many years of negotiations attempting to reach agreement to cover Apple’s use of those patents, we are currently taking action to defend our rights.”
When Nokia announced that it had sued Apple, Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Patent Business at Nokia, said, “Through our sustained investment in analysis and development, Nokia has created or contributed to several of the elemental technologies employed in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products. after many years of negotiations attempting to reach agreement to cover Apple’s use of those patents, we are currently taking action to defend our rights.”
In a statement to recode, Apple said “We respect intellectual property and we’ve continually been willing to pay a good price to secure the rights of patents covering technology in our products. sadly, Nokia has refused to license their patents on a good basis and is currently using the techniques of a patent troll to aim to extort cash from Apple by applying a royalty rate to Apple’s own inventions that they had nothing to try to to with.”
The Withings Body Cardio Scale, one of the products pulled from Apple Stores. Image: Withings.
Apple has pulled Withings products from Apple stores. Withings may be a company that produces digital health product as well as blood pressure monitors and fitness trackers. Nokia had acquired Withings in april 2016, for $191 million.
Withings product such as the Body Cardio Scale, the good Body analyser, and a Wireless blood pressure Monitor are no longer obtainable on Apple Stores or on the Apple site, according to a report in Macrumors
Bose had sued Beats over noise cancellation patents.
This is not the first time Apple has resorted to removing the products of competition from Apple Stores. 9to5Mac points out that Apple had antecedently used similar tactics when Beats and bose had disagreements over an exclusive NFL contract, and were involved in a patent spat. bose and Beats in agreement to settle the patent dispute for an undisclosed quantity, and bose products were re-introduced to the Apple Stores.
After initially filing patent lawsuits in Federal Republic of Germany and the U.S., Nokia expanded the patent litigation in Europe and Asia. Nokia is suing Apple in finland, UK, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, France, hong kong and Japan. There are 40 patents under suit now, across 11 countries.
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