HTC is back in troubled waters, and this time it’s not Apple with whom the company is locked in legal tussles. Per reports, Nokia is suing HTC over as many as 32 patents, but the lawsuit is not related to design patents.
Currently, there are five venues where this legal battle between Nokia and HTC is ongoing and the Finnish phone maker is now suing HTC for 32 patents, including those referring to reduction of power consumption in a mobile station, synchronization of databases with date range, and a method of operating a navigation system using images.
“I believe in a Nokia-HTC license deal for two reasons. One, Nokia has some really powerful non-standard-essential patents. Its SEPs are broadly licensed, but its non-SEPs account for almost 90% of its portfolio of 10,000 patent families and companies like HTC still need to license it. Two, HTC has proven in the past that it's not interested in endless court fights but quite willing to pay royalties to patent holders,” wrote Florian Mueller, an industry patent watcher. “In particular, HTC doesn't have a problem with being the first Android device maker to strike a deal with a given right holder, even though Google is presumably unhappy about the fact that HTC's willingness to enter into royalty-bearing license agreements validates certain infringement allegations against Android and adds pressure on the rest of the Android ecosystem to follow suit and pay up. HTC is simply doing what's best for HTC, just like Google is doing what's best for Google.”
This dispute is not something new for any of the companies as Nokia, in May, brought an ITC complaint against HTC, federal lawsuits in Delaware against HTC and ViewSonic, and German lawsuits in three cities (Munich, Mannheim and Düsseldorf) against all three defendants. However, HTC, per the Mueller blog, “tried against Nokia what worked against Apple, but on Friday Judge Leonard P. Stark, the federal judge presiding over Nokia's Delaware actions against HTC and ViewSonic denied all these motions.”
“These are just four out of 32 different patents Nokia is asserting against HTC. In the United States, Nokia is suing HTC over 18 patents in Delaware, 8 of which are also being asserted at the ITC (where some further streamlining will occur as Nokia confirmed in a recent filing). Nokia is suing HTC over the German parts of 17 European patents (10 in Mannheim, 4 in Düsseldorf, 3 in Munich). Three patents are being asserted on both continents, which is why the total count is 18+17-3 = 32,” Mueller added.
Now, as scheduled, three hearings in Germany will happen by the end of this year, starting Nov. 21 and ending Dec. 14.
