Nokia Sues Apple In Europe, United States For Infringement Of Patents

Shares of Nokia Corp (ADR) NOK were halted Wednesday afternoon for pending news.

Prior to the trading halt, Patently Apple reported that Apple Inc. AAPL filed a major antitrust case against Acacia Research Corp ACTG and alleged a conspiracy with Nokia.

Allegations

Apple stated in its filing that Acacia Research and its subsidiaries along with Conversant Intellectual Property Management and its subsidiaries have "respectively colluded with Nokia Corporation (itself and through its affiliates Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy and Nokia Technologies Oy (collectively 'Nokia') to obtain from Nokia thousands of patents as part of a plan to extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively from Apple and other innovative suppliers of cell phones, and ultimately from the consumers of those products."

Apple further alleged that "Nokia positioned itself to claim that its patents cover technologies included in telecommunications standards by repeatedly assuring standard-setting organizations that it would license its patents fairly."

Nokia Turns The Table

Nokia also announced on Wednesday that it is suing Apple in Europe and the United States for infringement of Nokia patents.

The suit was filed in Germany and the United States.

Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Patent Business at Nokia, said: "Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today's mobile devices, including Apple products. After several years of negotiations trying to reach agreement to cover Apple's use of these patents, we are now taking action to defend our rights."