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Apple Versus Nokia: Let the Battle Begin!

It seems to us like we find ourselves following one courtroom brawl after another between tech manufacturers. We just recently saw the end of the story that is AT&T vs. Verizon, and here we are set to witness another court battle, this time between Apple and Nokia.

To refresh your memory, we did a feature on Nokia’s filing of an infringement case against Apple a few weeks ago. The patent in question has something to do with the Apple iPhone, which Nokia claims is using technologies that have been patented by the latter – which means that Nokia thinks that it should be compensated for the use of these technologies.

Nokia versus Apple The lawsuit was filed in October, with Nokia pointing out that Apple had infringed on ten Nokia patents, covering technologies for wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.

And what is the latest on this drama? Apple filed a counter-suit last Friday, saying that, well, if we reportedly infringed on ten patents, then get a grip on this: Nokia infringed on 13.

Unlike the short-lived battle between AT&T and Verizon, there are analysts who think that this one may prove to be a “long and winding road” and could be a case that will take a while. This is based on the legal history of both Nokia and Apple. We are thinking the big winners here will be the lawyers being retained by both sides.

The predictions for this particular court battle stretch into years in district court, since both companies will reportedly undoubtedly try to each get the upper hand in settlement talks. Both companies are also no stranger to intellectual property cases. Nokia lost to Motorola in one such case in 1989, paying more than $10 million in settlement; Apple, for its part, is reportedly in the midst of no less than 47 patent infringement cases, 27 of them filed in 2009 alone.