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Nokia Payment An Admission: Qualcomm |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 |
Going for Nokia's jugular Qualcomm is now claiming the moral high
ground saying the phone company is tacitly admitting Qualcomm owns the
rights to the disputed CDMA technologies currently being licensed by it.
The American wireless technology company has issued an "arbitration
demand" with the American Arbitration Association, claiming that
Nokia's continued use of Qualcomm patents in its CDMA handsets obliges
it to pay the same royalty as in the current agreement and prohibits it
from asserting patent claims against Qualcomm.
The
existing license agreement signed in July 2001, expried on April 9th,
forcing Nokia to use its right to extend the agreement under the terms
of the first licence. This is exercisable through the end of 2008.
If
the agreement is not extended beyond April 9, 2007, Nokia's rights to
sell certain subscriber products (such as cellular phones and wireless
personal digital assistant devices) under most of Qualcomm's patents
will expire, says Qualcomm.
When Nokia announced it intends to pay
"an arbitrary sum for the use of Qualcomm's patents" is an
"acknowledgment of its obligation to compensate Qualcomm for the use of
those patents", claims the company.
"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," writes Qualcomm in a press statement.
The company makes the claim that Nokia's own prior positions in
enforcing patents it owns is contradictory to the way it expects
Qualcomm to license the CDMA technology.
"Nokia's claims as to what are fair and reasonable rates for Qualcomm's
patents are directly contradicted by its demands for royalties for its
own patents," says the statement.
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