Buzzin Mobiles

nokia to sue apple

The World’s biggest phone maker, Nokia say that they are suing Apple for infringements of patents on mobile phone technology used to develop the iPhone. Nokia claim that unlike other manufacturers who use Nokia technology through a signed contractual agreement, Apple have never actually signed up.

Nokia say that they have agreements in place with around forty companies allowing them to use Nokia technology, mostly hand set manufacturers, but Apple have not signed an agreement.

According to Nokia the iPhone infringes ten patents including wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption, with breaches dating back to the launch of the iPhone in 2007.

Nokia said:

“The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for, Apple is also expected to follow this principle.”

Over £36bn has been spent on research and development over the last two years by Nokia, but the recent financial crisis has seen a fall in sales resulting in the company posting their first quarterly loss in ten years.

Critics believe that poor sales are down to people switching from Nokia hand sets to iPhone and Blackberry devices, which may have prompted the alleged law suit.