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Nokia vs Qualcomm- Round 1 beginsNokia and Qualcomm have traded first blows over their cross-licensing issues. Qualcomm has hit Nokia with a law suit at the American Arbitration Association. Nokia has struck back with threats against the use of its own patents in Qualcomm's chipsets. Nokia's attitude is clear. It's pulled the plug on making cdmaOne handsets. So it only really needs a licence for Qualcomm's patents that cover 3G/W-CDMA. Qualcomm's attitude is that you can't just pick and choose but Nokia says it has gone ahead and paid Qualcomm $20 million. It sates, "Nokia views this payment as fair and reasonable compensation for the use of relevant Qualcomm essential patents in Nokia UMTS handsets during the second quarter of 2007." Qualcomm has responded by saying that, "Nokia has no more right to unilaterally set a price than the average consumer has a right to walk into a store, take a product off the shelf, and walk out with it after leaving only a fraction of the established price on the counter. Leaving some money on the counter does not make the act any less unlawful." Nokia's language isn't quite so fiery. However, it has stated that, "It is important to note that as of April 9th, 2007, Qualcomm's entire chipset business becomes exposed to Nokia's extensive GSM, WCDMA and CDMA patent portfolios. Nokia will use all rights from those portfolios when defending itself against any new Qualcomm litigation." Qualcomm is actually playing a very dangerous game here. Qualcomm could prevent Nokia selling handsets based on W-CDMA in the States. But - and it's a big but - Nokia could ask for ALL of Qualcomm's modem chip shipments to be frozen while the dispute is ironed out. The legal arguments are also getting messier and messier. Qualcomm recently highlighted the attitude Nokia had taken towards rival manufacturer, Vitelcom, in the European courts. The fact is that both Nokia and Qualcomm have a vested interest in seeing W-CDMA succeed. The trouble is that both sides appear to think that they can win. The full Inquirer story ... Nokia and Qualcomm trade blows |
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