Nokia, Qualcomm settle patent dispute

Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, and chipmaker Qualcomm announced yesterday they had entered into a new licensing agreement that settled all patent litigation between the two companies.

Financial terms of the agreement were not released but the companies said Nokia will pay royalties to Qualcomm for 15 years to licence technology that improves performance and battery life, while reducing the size of products. Nokia said it will also withdraw its antitrust complaint against Qualcomm filed with the European Commission.

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Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement: "We believe that this agreement is positive for the industry, enabling the market to benefit from innovation and new technologies."

The companies have been locked in a court battle since April 2007, when negotiations over the renewal of key patents broke down. The pair had sued and countersued each other in various countries across the world but had been unable to find a resolution to the dispute over patents.

The agreement was announced after a court judge delayed the opening of a trial on patent commitments and fees.

Qualcomm delayed the release of its fiscal third-quarter results for several hours to first announce the agreement. It reported that profits fell six per cent to $748m, or 45 cents per share, during the three-month period ended 29 June, down from $798m, or 47 cents per share, the same period last year. Revenue grew 19 per cent to $2.76bn from $2.33bn.

Original article: Nokia, Qualcomm settle patent dispute from CNET News.com