Nokia files patent suit against Apple over iPhones

David Meyer ZDNet UK

Published: 22 Oct 2009 16:11 BST

Nokia has sued Apple over the iPhone manufacturer's use of GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi patents.

The suit, filed in a US federal district court in Delaware, was announced by Nokia on Thursday. The Finnish handset maker said in a statement that 10 of its GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) patents had been violated by Apple.

"The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption, and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007," Nokia said.

Nokia's vice president for legal and intellectual property, Ilkka Rahnasto, said in the statement that Apple had refused to agree appropriate compensation with Nokia for the patents and was "attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation".

Apple announced its latest quarterly results on Monday, showing earnings of $1.67bn (£1bn). In the previous week, Nokia reported quarterly losses of €559m (£511m).

ZDNet UK was unable to get comment on the suit from Apple at the time of writing.