Saturday, February 8, 2014

HTC settles patent dispute with Nokia, signs cross-licensing agreement

After victories and defeats on both sides, HTC and Nokia have agreed on a cross-licensing patent settlement. The agreement between the two companies overrides any current and pending litigation, allowing Nokia and HTC’s lawyers to take a much-needed vacation. While the agreement will allow HTC to have access to Nokia’s broad patent portfolio, HTC will be bringing its own LTE patents to the table as well. The deal is being characterized as a “collaboration,” but HTC will be making payments to Nokia for any of its patents that are used in HTC devices.

Fourteen months ago, HTC made a similar agreement with Apple that settled all litigation between them. HTC also has a patent licensing agreement signed with Microsoft. The details of HTC’s agreements with Apple, Microsoft and Nokia are confidential, but it’s clear that quite a few companies are making a profit from the sales of HTC phones these days – unfortunately, HTC is not one of them.

Show Press Release

HTC AND NOKIA SIGNED A PATENT AND TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATION AGREEMENT
All Patent litigation between the companies dismissed

Taipei, Taiwan, February 7, 2014 — Nokia and HTC have settled all pending patent litigation between them, and entered into a patent and technology collaboration agreement. HTC will make payments to Nokia and the collaboration will involve HTC’s LTE patent portfolio, further strengthening Nokia’s licensing offering. The companies will also explore future technology collaboration opportunities. The full terms of the agreement are confidential.

“We are very pleased to have reached a settlement and collaboration agreement with HTC, which is a long standing licensee for Nokia’s standards essential patents,” said Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia. “This agreement validates Nokia’s implementation patents and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities.“

“Nokia has one of the most preeminent patent portfolios in the industry.” said Grace Lei, General Counsel of HTC. “As an industry pioneer in smartphones with a strong patent portfolio, HTC is pleased to come to this agreement, which will enable us to stay focused on innovation for consumers.”