Trade Commission Favors Nokia Over Qualcomm In Patent CaseTrade Commission Favors Nokia Over Qualcomm In Patent Case

In the seemingly never-ending patent battles swirling around Qualcomm's massive patent portfolio, the company lost a skirmish to Nokia this week after a U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled that Nokia had not violated three of Qualcomm's wireless mobile patents.

The firms have been mired in several intellectual property litigation cases across the globe as Qualcomm seeks to assert its IP claims and Nokia battles back with its own growing patent portfolio.

"This decision confirms our belief that Qualcomm does not have relevant GSM patents," said Rick Simonson, Nokia's chief financial officer, in a statement. Administrative Law Judge Paul J. Luckern ruled that GSM/GPRS/Edge handsets manufactured by Nokia don't infringe on three Qualcomm patents. Qualcomm noted that the ruling didn't address Qualcomm's WCDMA patents.

Qualcomm said it plans to appeal the preliminary decision by petitioning the ITC. In a statement, the company said: "Qualcomm contends that Nokia imports cellular handsets into the United States that infringe these particular Qualcomm patents covering certain power control technologies and is seeking an exclusion order barring the importation of infringing Nokia handsets that use that technology."

Qualcomm filed an initial complaint against Nokia involving the patents in June 2006, and the case -- along with several additional IP suits involving Qualcomm and competitors Nokia and Broadcom -- has taken on a life of its own.

In another ITC case involving Qualcomm, the commission ruled in favor of Broadcom by issuing a partial ban on handsets using Qualcomm chips.

The ITC is slated to issue a final ruling in the Qualcomm-Nokia case by April 14, 2008.