InterDigital Close to Patent Settlement With Nokia

InterDigital has announced in a SEC filing that it has made "substantial progress" in its patent licensing talks with Nokia and is closer to a resolution of all disputes between the two companies.

Nokia and InterDigital are battling over a patent dispute and last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Nokia is likely to prevail on the issue of whether its alleged entitlement to a license is arbitrable. The Court did not consider or rule on whether Nokia is entitled to such a license. As a result, the Court ordered InterDigital to participate in arbitration of the license issue.

The Court also ordered InterDigital to cease participation in the Investigation by April 11, 2008, but only with respect to Nokia. The Court also ordered Nokia to post a $500,000 bond by March 28, 2008.

InterDigital says that it disagrees with the CourtÃ's decision and has filed a notice of appeal and intends to request an expedited resolution of the appeal.

Nokia paid InterDigital US$253 million in 2006 to settle claims over 2G technology for its mobiles phones, plus some aspects of 3G phones. The remaining issues in both the U.S. and U.K. involve 3G handsets not covered by that earlier agreement.

Posted to the site on 24th March 2008