Nokia has filed further complaints alleging that Apple products infringe a number of Nokia patents, expanding its litigation originally announced on December 21.
Across actions in 11 countries, there are now 40 patents in suit, which cover technologies such as display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets and video coding, the company said.
Cases have now been filed in Dusseldorf, Mannheim, Munich, Helsinki, London, Turin, Stockholm and Barcelona.
The network equipment maker now has patent infringement suits against Apple in Barcelona, Tokyo, Texas and several other places including one with the International Trade Commission. The ITC case relates to 8 patents, while most of the other cases involve 2-3 patents each.
“As one of the world’s leading innovators, and following the acquisition of full ownership of NSN in 2013 and Alcatel-Lucent in 2016, Nokia now owns three valuable portfolios of intellectual property. Built on more than EUR 115 billion invested in R&D over the past twenty years, our tens of thousands of patents cover many important technologies used in smartphones, tablets, personal computers and similar devices,” the Finnish company said.
“Since agreeing a license covering some patents from the Nokia Technologies portfolio in 2011, Apple has declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other of its patented inventions which are used by many of Apple’s products,” it said.
Apple makes the world’s most popular smartphone, the iPhone.
Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Patent Business at Nokia, said: “Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products. After several years of negotiations trying to reach agreement to cover Apple’s use of these patents, we are now taking action to defend our rights.”
Nokia sold its smartphone business to Microsoft, but retains its network business. It is widely expected to re-enter the handset business within three months.