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Nokia and InterDigital resolve contract dispute

Nokia and InterDigital have resolved their contract dispute over the patent license agreement originally signed in 1999. The parties had a dispute regarding the impact to Nokia of InterDigital’s licenses with Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson.

The settlements resolve the legal disputes related to 2G products. Under the settlement agreements, Nokia obtains a fully paid-up, perpetual, irrevocable license to all of InterDigital’s current patent portfolio, and any patents InterDigital may later acquire, for purposes of making or selling 2G products, including handsets and infrastructure.

The settlements also resolve disputes related to all Nokia products up to the agreement date. “Our prior contract agreement required us to respect the settlements that Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson entered in 2003, but there was a dispute about the impact those other settlements should have on Nokia, ” said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Intellectual Property Rights, Nokia. “This case demonstrates that legal disputes are sometimes necessary in order to lower unrealistic demands”.
The USD$253 million payment required under the settlement is in line with Nokia’s earlier provisions.