Nokia Corp. said Wednesday that it is suing Research In Motion, the
maker of the BlackBerry, for breach of contract in Britain, the United
States and Canada over cellular patents the two companies agreed on nine
years ago.
The struggling Finnish cellphone maker agreed with RIM in
2003 on a license that covers patents on "standards-essential"
technologies for mobile devices. RIM has since claimed the license
should also have covered patents for non-essential parts and it filed
arbitration proceedings with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in March
2011.
Earlier this month, the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled against RIM's claims.
Nokia
said it filed a suit earlier this week to enforce the tribunal's
ruling, which says that the Canadian company is "not entitled to
manufacture or sell products compatible with the WLAN Standard without
first agreeing with Nokia on the royalty to be paid."
RIM said it "will respond to Nokia's petitions in due course."
"Research
In Motion has worked hard to develop its leading-edge BlackBerry
technology and has built an industry-leading intellectual property
portfolio of its own," said RIM spokeswoman Crystal Roberts.
Peter
Misek, an analyst at Jefferies in New York, said Nokia's filings mean
that RIM likely will end up paying royalties of $2 to $5 per phone.
Nokia
is among leading patent holders in the wireless industry. Major
manufacturers of phones and wireless equipment are increasingly turning
to patent litigation as they jockey for an edge to expand their share of
the rapidly growing smartphone market.
Last year, Nokia received a
$565 million royalty payment from Apple Inc. to settle long-standing
patent disputes. It also has filed claims in the United States and
Germany alleging that products from HTC Corp. and Viewsonic Corp.
infringe a number of its patents.
Nokia shares closed down 1 percent at €2.53 in Helsinki on Wednesday.