Nokia looks to block US imports of Apple products in latest salvo over patents

The U.S. International Trade Commission is looking into allegations that Apple is importing devices that infringe on Nokia patents, such as iPhones and iPads, a report said on Tuesday.

Nokia is aiming for cease-and-desist and limited exclusion orders, the Commission said in a statement seen by Reuters. It's not clear when a decision might be reached.

The action is another escalation in the latest legal battle between Apple and Nokia. On Dec 21, Nokia launched a series of lawsuits over 32 patents acquired through portfolio deals in 2013 in 2016. In fact the company now has some 40 suits active worldwide, accusing Apple of violating concepts related to displays, interfaces, antennas and more.

In response, Apple has filed suit against nine Nokia-linked patent aggregators, saying they're at the heart of a conspiracy to "extract and extort exorbitant revenues" through "unfair and anticompetitive patent assertions." One of the aggregators, Acacia, has sued Apple 42 times in the last decade.

While still best known for its phone brands, Nokia sold its main mobile division to Microsoft several years ago and has since focused more on the infrastructure market, though it also owns fitness brand Withings. The Nokia name should soon appear on smartphones again thanks to a deal with HMD Global.

Prior to the Microsoft sale, Nokia filed several suits against Apple involving GSM, camera, and touch technology. Apple fired back, but the companies eventually settled in 2011 with a licensing agreement.

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12 Comments

williamh 1034 comments · 13 Years

About 7 years ago

sog35 said:

Oh how the might have fallen.

Nokia used to be a technology King. Now they are a patent troll. So sad. So pathetic
"O daughters of Finland, weep over Nokia. Who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

cali 3494 comments · 10 Years

Crawls back from the dead to troll.

anantksundaram 20384 comments · 18 Years

Um... what? "Block US imports"? Of a US product sold by a US company making profits for US shareholders, paying taxes to a US government that is being asked to help prevent its products being "imported" into the US?

Am I reading the headline correctly?

chadbag 2000 comments · 13 Years

anantksundaram said:

Um... what? "Block US imports"? Of a US product sold by a US company making profits for US shareholders, paying taxes to a US government that is being asked to help prevent its products being "imported" into the US?

Am I reading the headline correctly?

Yes.

Last I checked the iPhone is not made by Apple, nor in America. It is made for Apple by Foxconn and Pegatron and maybe others, mostly in China. So, they are Chinese products imported into the US.

VernonDozier 26 comments · 8 Years

sog35 said:

Oh how the might have fallen.

Nokia used to be a technology King. Now they are a patent troll. So sad. So pathetic

Well, we're starting to trial Nokia-Bell Labs-brand routers at our office. They are going to replace the Lucent equipment. Just because they don't make consumer-grade equipment does it mean they're irrelevant. They're probably more relevant today than Cisco is. They still make great equipment. Back in the day, AT&T and T-Mobile didn't think there was a market to sell high-end smartphones, so they manufactured relatively basic models for US customers in the USA. What Apple did was packed a lot of features in a cheap phone manufactured in China.