Nokia’s patent claims against HTC dismissed
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC said in a statement today that a German court has dismissed two patent infringement complaints brought against the company by Finnish phone giant Nokia.
“HTC is delighted with today’s decision of the District Court of Mannheim, which dismissed Nokia’s infringement complaint against HTC, which alleged that HTC infringed the German part of its EP0812120 patent (the ‘120 patent) entitled ‘Method for using services offered by a telecommunications network, a telecommunications system, and a terminal for it’,” the Taiwan-based firm said in a statement sent to Emirates 24|7.
The Taiwanese firm, which is seeking to cover lost ground with its recently launched HTC One smartphone said that in addition to dismissing Nokia’s claims, the court also awarded HTC its legal costs in the case. “HTC respects the intellectual property rights of others, but believes that Nokia has exaggerated the scope of its patent in order to extract unwarranted licensing royalties from Android handset manufacturers,” the firm’s statement said.
This in effect means that Nokia won’t be able to seek licensing fees from Android manufacturer HTC although the Finnish company has hinted at an appeal of the verdict.
The patents case reportedly involved distribution of the Google Play app store and the patents in question cover the infringement over use of “intelligent network” services such as alternative billing (notably, by using the Google Play app store) and a method for brightening and dimming phone screens. A Nokia spokesman has been quoted in international media pointing out that the company still has 34 patents in suit against HTC, both in Germany and the US.
Nevertheless, HTC is reasonably pleased with the dismissal of the two cases, it said. “We are gratified that the court apparently shares HTC’s view and that, given the positive ruling of non-infringement today, the Android platform is now safe from oppressive enforcement of this patent,” the statement added.
“HTC also believes that the ‘120 patent is invalid, and will continue with invalidity actions pending before the English Patents Court and German Federal Patents Court. We fully expect the patent to be revoked before any Nokia appeal proceedings take place.”
HTC has been struggling in the global smartphones domain but clung to the No. 5 smartphone spot in 2012 thanks to sales of key models such as the HTC One X and the EVO 4G. Its continued year-over-year growth in the Asia/Pacific region helped the smartphone vendor offset some of the share losses the vendor has endured in key mature markets, namely the US.
“While Nokia will doubtless try to downplay the significance of this victory, the ‘120 patent is Nokia’s flagship patent, and appears to be one of the reasons that Apple was forced to settle with Nokia after it was asserted against Apple in the same court,” HTC said in the statement.
In a separate judgment handed down on the same day, the District Court of Mannheim also dismissed a further infringement complaint by Nokia alleging that HTC infringed the German part of patent EP 1312974 (the ‘974 patent) entitled “Electronic Display Device and Lighting Control Method of Same”.
“HTC is naturally extremely pleased by the court’s decision and will also be continuing with the invalidity action pending before the English Patents Court and German Federal Patents Court, as we believe that this patent is also invalid. Again, we are confident that the Federal Patents Court will revoke the patent before any appeal filed by Nokia is heard,” the company said.
“While ‘974 patent is apparently less important to Nokia than the ‘120 patent, this decision nevertheless represents another major setback for Nokia in its attempt to license its non-essential patents to Android handset manufacturers,” HTC claimed in the statement.