By Tony Smith for The
Register
This article has been reproduced from The Register, with
permission.
The allegation comes a week after Nokia and five other mobile
phone, network and chip companies formally
complained to the European Commission about Qualcomm's approach
to 3G technology licensing.
Friday's complaint was filed by Qualcomm and a subsidiary
company, SnapTrack. Together they allege Nokia has used without
permission methods outlined in 12 patents, 11 held by Qualcomm, the
other by its off-shoot.
Six of the patents are the basis for similar allegations made by
Qualcomm against Broadcom in July 2005. Perhaps not
co-incidentally, Broadcom is one of the six firms behind the EC
complaint.
Qualcomm said its patents, in part, cover technology that is
"essential for the manufacture or use of equipment that complies
with the GSM, GPRS and EDGE cellular standards". The company said
it was pursuing an injunction to ban the sale of allegedly
infringing Nokia products in the US. It's also after unspecified
monetary damages.
Qualcomm said it had been in negotiations with Nokia to discuss
the alleged infringement, but the pair had been unable to reach a
satisfactory, amicable resolution for both parties. Litigation, it
said, was the only way to resolve the issues it has with Nokia.
Nokia and Broadcom, along with Panasonic, NEC, Ericsson and
Texas Instruments, allege that Qualcomm's WCDMA technology
licensing policy runs contrary to European anti-trust regulations.
They maintain that the US firm does not license its patented
techniques on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, as it
promised 3G standards-setting bodies it would. They also claim it
uses pricing discounts to encourage customers to buy its chips on
an exclusive basis and so "to exclude competing manufacturers of
chipsets for mobile phones from the market and preventing others
from entering".
Qualcomm has said all the six's allegations are
unfounded and without merit.
© The Register
2005
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