Nokia ends legal rift with Apple, accepts financial settlement
Nokia has reached a settlement with Apple, which ended the two firms' legal tussles and commenced their licensing deal that calls for upcoming royalty fees set to be paid by the Cupertino-based company, reports said.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Apple is also set to make an initial compensation to Nokia that will set off the deal and as covered by the two companies' financial agreement, which was described by the Finnish firm as a boost on its second quarter results.
As a result of the settlement, both Apple and Nokia will withdraw their intellectual property complaints before the International Trade Commission that will formally end their litigation battles.
The NY Times quoted Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop as saying that "this demonstrates Nokia's industry-leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."
Elop also called the development as attesting to Nokia's increasing licensing deals, which now counts leading smartphone maker Apple as among the company's numerous partners.
Nokia itself has been a global leader in the mobile phone manufacturing industry yet the entry of Apple and Google, with their cutting-edge mobile platforms iOS and Android, has largely diminished the company's standings.
In a statement, Apple called the agreement as a limited partnership as it confirmed that both firms "have agreed to drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a license covering some of each other's patents, but not the majority of the innovation that makes the iPhone unique."
More so, the American company underscored the fact that "we are glad to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses."
Analysts viewed the settlement as a form of victory for Nokia, which has been on a decline lately and had to resort on a partnership with Microsoft to shore up its position in the lucrative smartphone industry.
With a precedent enabled by the deal, experts said that they would be hardly surprise if Nokia would next train its sight on Google's Android, which shares similar technological structures with iPhone, except for its exterior make-up, and the very backbone of the legal issues between the phone maker and Apple.