Nokia and Qualcomm Calm Their Patent War - Slightly

Qualcomm and Nokia on Friday agreed to consolidate ongoing patent lawsuits in the US state of Delaware with an arbitration currently pending in Los Angeles. While the move should speed up the resolution of the manifold legal battles between the companies, a Nokia spokeswoman warned that the move is unlikely to "resolve the overall licensing negotiations between the companies"

The companies have been in dispute over various patents for several years, with the matter escalating last April when Qualcomm licenses to Nokia expired.

Nokia had sued Qualcomm in the Delaware Chancery Court in 2006, claiming it's entitled to use Qualcomm chip inventions on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms."

The stand-down in the Delaware court does not affect the ongoing litigation in other jurisdictions or the case pending before the U.S. International Trade Commission

According to the court filing, Nokia and Qualcomm are currently involved in patent litigation in courts in three US states - California, Wisconsin and Texas, along with the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and China..

Posted to the site on 25th February 2008