The temperature is rising in the patents dispute between Nokia and Qualcomm, and now it looks like the EU is getting involved. 

It all started late in 2005 when TI, Broadcom, Nokia, Ericsson, NEC and Panasonic lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission claiming anti-competitive behaviour on the part of Qualcomm. The response from the San Diego-based chip maker was to file a suit of its own in the US citing Nokia and countering claims that it had broken its agreement on 3G WCDMA IPR licensing. Now read on.

On 9 June, 2006 Qualcomm filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging unfair trade practices by Nokia. According to the complaint, Nokia imported and sold mobile phones and devices that infringe one or more of six Qualcomm patents.

Qualcomm is seeking an Exclusion Order barring the import of the specified Nokia phones and a ‘Cease and Desist’ order preventing the sale of phones that were already in the country. The accused products include handsets for use in GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. Qualcomm hopes the ITC investigation will begin next month and be concluded in the first half of 2007.

Best of British?
Qualcomm has also sued Nokia for patent infringement in the United Kingdom. That lawsuit, which commenced on 24 May, 2006, alleges that Nokia's sales of products which are capable of operating in accordance with the GPRS and/or EDGE standards infringe two of Qualcomm's UK patents.

The Nokia response was swift. In a statement the Finnish vendor said: "These repetitive legal actions, over GSM technologies that have been in the market for many years, reflect Qualcomm's concern over the current 3G UMTS patent negotiations. These actions demonstrate that the conditions applicable to ongoing negotiations between Nokia and Qualcomm have substantially changed since the early 1990's. At that time Qualcomm held a dominant patent position in IS-95 standard and was able to impose that position on the industry."

Nokia's current patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm expires in April 2007 and the two companies are locked in negotiations to extend or replace this agreement. According to Nokia most of the patents cited in the ITC filing are covered by “Qualcomm's prior agreement to license on fair and reasonable terms and are thus not properly subject to a request by Qualcomm to the ITC."

The Nokia statement goes on to claim that, as a result of significant investment in R&D, the company now has “far more essential patents than Qualcomm in 3G UMTS."

As with all IPR disputes the truth is hard to find. The legal process tends to drag on for years and frequently no resolution is ever reached. It is entirely possible that the latest round of suits and counter-suits is prompted by, and intended to influence, the ongoing contract negotiations.

European angst
Meanwhile, the original 2005 complaint to the European Commission appears to be moving forward. According to reports in the Financial Times, the EC plans to examine the complaint using the same team which carried out the investigations into Microsoft and Intel. Qualcomm certainly seems to be expecting the EC to act. Talking to the Financial Times, CEO Paul Jacobs said, "we gave in a response [to the complaints], so it's a little bit of a waiting game now. I guess I won't be surprised if there's an investigation." He went on to say that an investigation would not have abig effect on the company and he was willing to protect the company by breaking it up if needs be.

All adds up to a busy – and probably ever-expanding – legal department at Qualcomm, as befits a law firm with a sideline chip making business in the basement.
Ian Channing