No more summer of discontent for Nokia and Qualcomm, which ended three years of legal woes by signing a patent agreement. Under a 15-year agreement, Nokia will pay royalties to Qualcomm for use in its mobile devices and Nokia Siemens Networks infrastructure equipment. Nokia also agreed not to use any of its patents directly against Qualcomm, which will let Qualcomm integrate Nokia’s technology into its chipsets.
Besides these terms, Nokia also was able to negotiate lower net royalty rates for access to Qualcomm’s patents. Qualcomm reportedly charges phone makers roughly 4% of the price of a handset.
While Nokia negotiated a good deal for itself, the question now becomes whether other companies will go back to Qualcomm asking for the same considerations. For example, Broadcom, Ericsson, Panasonic and Texas Instruments have all taken umbrage with Qualcomm’s royalty rates and filed complaints with the European Union.
This week’s agreement settles all legal cases between Nokia and Qualcomm.
Filed Under: Carriers
