Nokia appeals German courts dismissal of Qualcomm lawsuit

Nokia sure is one tough bulldog, or legal beagle as the case may be. The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer just won’t loosen that legal-bite around Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s foot. After having their patent exhaustion case against Qualcomm thrown out in the Netherlands and Germany, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has filed an appeal with the German regional court in Mannheim.

“Nokia maintains that Qualcomm’s patents in question are exhausted and is seeking a declaration from the court affirming that the principle of patent exhaustion applies to patents which are licensed to others in the telecommunications industry,” a Nokia spokeswoman said.

We previously said how glad we’d be when Qualcomm finally ties up all its legal loose ends, but by the looks of things, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. With Nokia adamant about getting a court to issue a patent-exhaustion ruling against Qualcomm’s patent portfolio (for which it is charging Nokia as well as Nokia’s chip supplier, Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN)), and Qualcomm’s other legal battles in other countries, it looks like a long, arduous road for the US chipmaking giant.

[Via: Reuters]