Qualcomm Scores Legal Win Against Nokia

Qualcomm claimed a partial victory on Friday after a US judge recommended the terminating of a US International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation of a complaint filed by Nokia. Qualcomm said that Judge Luckern's initial determination will become the Commission's final decision unless the Commission decides within 30 days to review the decision.

Nokia filed the complaint with the ITC in August, asking that imports into the USA of handsets containing Qualcomm chips should be banned - claiming that they infringe its patents related to performance, size and energy efficiency within mobile phones.

The decision to recommend the ending of the investigation was based - the judge said - due to the arbitration pending between the parties regarding their 2001 Subscriber Unit and Infrastructure Equipment License Agreement. Nokia spokeswoman, Laurie Armstrong said the company was disappointed by the decision but noted that the action was based on a technicality over the arbitration, and not on the merits of their actual complaint.

Last month, the ITC held a two-week hearing into a complaint filed by Qualcomm against Nokia, accusing the Finnish giant of infringing three of its patents. A decision on that investigation is not expected until next year at the earliest.

The two companies have been at each others throats over patent infringements since a licensing agreement expired in April.

Posted to the site on 21st October 2007