Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) won a German lawsuit against HTC Corp (TPE:2498) after Mannheim Regional Court found HTC Corp (TPE:2498) guilty of violating Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V)’s patents that boost battery life on mobile phones.
However, the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company said in an emailed statement that it will appeal the decision as the patent is invalid, according to Bloomberg.
Last year, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) filed lawsuits against Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), HTC Corp (TPE:2498) and ViewSonic Corp over 45 patent infringements in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. The Lumia maker settled the deal with Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) in December 2012. HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) had settled a similar patent infringement deal with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in November.
Downplaying Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V)’s victory, HTC Corp (TPE:2498) said that the decision is unlikely to benefit Nokia as the patent applies on HTC products that are no longer sold in Germany. The new HTC Corp (TPE:2498) devices don’t use the accused technology so its German business will remain unaffected. The accused patent was used in HTC Desire S, Wildfire S and Rhyme. The Taiwanese smartphone maker mocked Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) for going to great lengths to protect its “useless” patent portfolio.
A Nokia spokesperson said that the court decision confirms the quality of the Finnish phone maker’s patent portfolio. The company asked HTC Corp (TPE:2498) to respect Nokia’s intellectual property, and use its own innovations to compete in the market.
HTC Corp (TPE:2498) further said that the disputed patent’s power saving technology is trivial, and the company has removed the technology from its entire range of German handsets.
However, Florian Mueller of Foss Patents, an expert in patent infringement cases in the technology industry, said that HTC Corp (TPE:2498)’s statements are only partially true. He added that the Taiwanese company has used Nokia’s disputed patent in many other devices apart from those three.
The battle is far from over. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) has brought many other patent infringement cases against HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) where rulings are still awaited.
