After spending the last few years slinging mud at each other in various court rooms around the world resulting in injunctions against the sale of the HTC One mini, which was then revoked, Nokia and HTC seem to have made up.
The One mini seemed to be what most of the law suits revolved around but now all the court cases have been dropped and the two companies have entered into a patent and technology collaboration. This will involve HTC making payments to Nokia and Nokia will have access to the HTC LTE patent portfolio. As a result of this agreement there may well be future collaborations.
The two companies have had the following to say:
“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.”
You can read the full Nokia statement in the box below.
All patent litigation between the companies dismissed
Espoo, Finland – 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.”
About NokiaNokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that Nokia and its business are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the planned sale by Nokia of substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, including Smart Devices and Mobile Phones (referred to below as “Sale of the D&S Business”) pursuant to the Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of September 2, 2013, between Nokia and Microsoft International Holdings B.V.(referred to below as the “Agreement”); B) the closing of the Sale of the D&S Business; C) receiving timely, or at all, necessary regulatory approvals for the Sale of the D&S Business; D) expectations, plans or benefits related to or caused by the Sale of the D&S Business; E) expectations, plans or benefits related to Nokia’s strategies, including plans for Nokia with respect to its continuing businesses that will not be divested in connection with the Sale of the D&S Business; F) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in leadership and operational structure; G) expectations and targets regarding our operational priorities, financial performance or position, results of operations and use of proceeds from the Sale of the D&S Business; H) the timing of the deliveries of our products and services; I) our ability to innovate, develop, execute and commercialize new technologies, products and services; J) expectations regarding market developments and structural changes; K) expectations and targets regarding performance, including those related to market share, prices, net sales and margins of products and services; L) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements; M) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; N) expectations regarding the successful completion of restructurings, investments, acquisitions and divestments on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, divestments and acquisitions, as well as any expected plans and benefits related to or caused by such transactions; and O) statements preceded by “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “foresee,” “sees,” “target,” “estimate,” “designed,” “aim”, “plans,” “intends,” “focus,” “will” or similar expressions. 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Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) the inability to close the Sale of the D&S Business in a timely manner, or at all, for instance due to the inability or delays in obtaining necessary regulatory approvals for the Sale of the D&S Business, or the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Agreement; 2) the potential adverse effect on the sales of our mobile devices, business relationships, operating results and business generally resulting from the announcement of the Sale of the D&S Business or from the terms that we have agreed for the Sale of the D&S Business; 3) any negative effect from the implementation of the Sale of the D&S Business, as we may forego other competitive alternatives for strategies or partnerships that would benefit our Devices & Services business and if the Sale of the D&S Business is not closed, we may have limited options to continue the Devices & Services business or enter into another transaction on terms favorable to us, or at all; 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17) the management of NSN’s customer financing exposure; 18) the success of our HERE strategy, including our ability to establish a successful location-based platform and extend our location-based services across devices and operating systems; 19) our ability to protect numerous patented standardized or proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 20) our ability to maintain the existing sources of intellectual property related revenue and establish new such sources; 21) the intensity of competition in the various markets where we do business and our ability to maintain or improve our market position or respond successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 22) our ability to keep momentum and increase our speed of innovation, product development and execution in order to bring new innovative and competitive products and location-based or other services to the market in a timely manner; 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Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
– See more at: http://press.nokia.com/2014/02/07/nokia-and-htc-signed-a-patent-and-technology-collaboration-agreement/#sthash.AiCd3IrG.dpuf