Nokia pays $20 million to Qualcomm to use UMTS
We just saw that Qualcomm sent five new patent lawsuits to Nokia a few days back, but hey, business is business. Putting aside their deep-rooted differences for just long enough to let the ink dry, Nokia has agreed to pay Qualcomm a cool $20 million for the rights to use UMTS patents held by the CDMA royalty ringleader (as you may recall, UMTS rests atop WCDMA). The [Via I4U News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike @ Apr 6th 2007 8:24PM
Looks like the facts of this article might not be fully accurate. Read any of the other more credible articles on the subject from other major news sources. Qualcomm says the $20M doesn't cover the terms of their agreement w/Nokia for 2Q. Doesn't look like Qualcomm intends to let Nokia "continue hawking UMTS handsets worldwide for the time being."
Check out their press-release on it... http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2007/070405_files_arbitration_demand.html
"Nokia's announcement today that it intends to pay an arbitrary sum for the use of QUALCOMM's patents in Nokia's WCDMA products after April 9 is an acknowledgment of its obligation to compensate QUALCOMM for the use of those patents. However, the announcement that Nokia will only pay a nominal amount makes clear that Nokia does not intend to comply with the agreed-upon terms of the parties' existing agreement or to pay the fair and established price for access to QUALCOMM's extensive patent portfolio. Nokia has no more right to unilaterally set a price than the average consumer has a right to walk into a store, take a product off the shelf, and walk out with it after leaving only a fraction of the established price on the counter. Leaving some money on the counter does not make the act any less unlawful."
Of course, Nokia's press release says they did pay enough...but who do you trust? The merchant? or the shoplifter? There doesn't seem to be any question that Nokia 'took the merchandise' and feels that they had to pay something for it... they just decided they didn't like the price (but figured they would take it anyway.)
LH @ Apr 7th 2007 4:55AM
Hahaha. Nokia's press release has one gem:
"""
Nokia retains the right to ask Qualcomm, and its customers, to respect Nokia's patents rights. The retained rights have significant value, and Nokia believes it is well positioned to offset any claims Qualcomm may make against Nokia products to claim more money in license fees.
"It is important to note that as of April 9, 2007, Qualcomm's entire chipset business becomes exposed to Nokia's extensive GSM, WCDMA and CDMA patent portfolios and Nokia will use all rights from those portfolios when defending itself against any new Qualcomm litigation", Simonson concluded.
"""