Nokia has filed a series of lawsuits against Apple accusing it of violating 32 technology patents. The lawsuits have been filed in the courts of Munich, Düsseldorf and Mannheim in Germany as well as in the US District Court. Specifically, the lawsuits refer to patents on displays, user interfaces, software, antennas, chipsets and even video encoding.
Essentially, Apple bought some patents from Nokia Technologies' portfolio in 2011 but appears to be arbitrarily using many more in its products than it agreed to. Furthermore, Nokia claims that it is abusing their agreement by stealing the patents.
The reason for Nokia's refuge to the courts is Apple's decision to undertake legal actions against Acacia Research Corp and Conversant Intellectual Property Management Inc for collaborating with Nokia with the aim of unscrupulously extracting money from it.
In defense of it, Apple emphasizes that Nokia distributes its patents to Acacia in order to avoid their immediate granting. The standardized patents have been used throughout the industry and have been licensed in accordance with the terms of FRAND, which limits payment fees for companies.
In 2011, Nokia signed a deal with Apple that required it to pay a fee up front to obtain future royalties. Now Apple is alleging that Nokia conspired with Acacia to profit from the false obligations and infringe on its rights.
Η Acacia φαίνεται από την πλευρά της να έχει μηνήσει πάνω από 40 φορές την Apple σύμφωνα με πηγές.
