NOK Nokia Corp

By Matthias Verbergt 

Nokia Corp. said Thursday it has filed additional complaints against Apple Inc., alleging the iPhone maker has infringed 40 of its patents.

The Finnish company said it now has filed actions in 11 countries in total, saying Apple violated 40 of its patents covering technologies such as display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets and video coding.

On Wednesday, Nokia said it had filed actions against Apple with courts in the U.S. and Germany, for infringements of 32 patents.

The suits were filed with the regional courts in Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Munich in Germany and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Nokia said it has expanded litigation to courts in Finland, the U.K., Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, France, China and Japan. The company said it has also filed a suit against Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

The move marks the next step in a mobile-patent licensing conflict between Nokia and the Cupertino, Calif.-based company that has escalated in just a few days.

On Tuesday, Apple filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, arguing that Nokia excluded some patents from that agreement and transferred them to third-party companies "to be used for extorting excessive royalties" from Apple. It asked the court to award damages and rule that Nokia breached its contract.

In 2011, Apple settled a two-year patent case with Nokia and agreed to pay licensing royalties for use of some Nokia patents in iPhones. Nokia was able to secure a favorable settlement worth an estimated $720 million from Apple.

Nokia said it has negotiated several years with Apple to reach an agreement on the use of the patents before deciding it would take action. In a reaction to Nokia's announcement on Wednesday, an Apple spokesman said the company has always been willing to pay a "fair price" for patents covering the technology in its products.

"Unfortunately, Nokia has refused to license their patents on a fair basis and is now using the tactics of a patent troll to attempt to extort money from Apple," he added.

An Apple spokesman on Thursday reiterated the company's Wednesday statement.

The iPhone maker updated the lawsuit it filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to include Nokia as defendant. The company on Thursday also filed a lawsuit in London arguing that Nokia is refusing to license patents on a fair and reasonable basis.

Nokia was once the world's largest cellphone maker, but its business declined rapidly not long after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Nokia abandoned mobile-device manufacturing in 2014, when it sold its mobile-phone business to Microsoft Corp. for EUR5.44 billion ($5.86 billion) to focus on network equipment.

Nokia's patents, however, still cover technology used in many of today's smartphones and tablets. As sales of networking equipment are in decline world-wide owing to lower spending by mobile service providers, Nokia is increasingly dependent on its highly profitable patent business.

Tripp Mickle contributed to this article

Write to Matthias Verbergt at Matthias.Verbergt@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 23, 2016 02:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

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