Nokia's N97

Nokia announced today that it has filed a complaint against US tech firm Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple's iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards.

Apple said this week, it sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, up 7% from a year ago and 41% more than the previous quarter.

US IT research firm Garner reported in August that sales of smartphones such as the touchscreen iPhone and other querty screen devices, surpassed 40 million units, a 27% increase from the same period last year.

Nokia had 47% of the market compared with Apple's 3%.

Gartner said Nokia flagship high-end N97 smartphone met little enthusiasm at its launch in the second quarter of 2009 and had sold just 500,000 units in the channel since it started to ship in June, compared to Apple's iPhone 3G S, which sold 1 million units in its first weekend.

Nokia said today as a leading innovator in wireless communications, it has created one of the strongest and broadest patent portfolios in the industry, investing more than €40 billion in R&D during the last two decades. Much of this intellectual property, including the patents in suit, has been declared essential to industry standards. 

Nokia says it has already successfully entered into license agreements including these patents with approximately 40 companies, including virtually all the leading mobile device vendors, allowing the industry to benefit from Nokia's innovation.

The ten patents in suit relate to technologies fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards. The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for,"said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia. "Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation."