Nokia is holding its ground – $1 billion in licensing fees to Qualcomm is enough

Again and again with this legal back and forth between Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). The latest bit to come out of Espoo basically calls into question Qualcomm’s entire argument. Nokia states that they’ve dumped something like $1 billion in licensing fees to Qualcomm in order to use Qualcomm’s early mobile technologies. The licensing deals from 1992 and 2001 have been paid in full and are royalty-free – Nokia believes that they shouldn’t have to pay anymore.

Obviously, Qualcomm thinks otherwise. Qualcomm’s position is that as long as Nokia continues to ship hardware that uses Qualcomm’s patented technologies, Nokia implicitly agrees to continue with the original licensing deals. Nokia contends that the deals can only be extended in writing and seeing as how they’ve been paid in full, Nokia is free to go about its market dominating business.

Right, so basically we’re hearing more of the same arguments from either side. You’d think that these two behemoth companies would want to end their legal battles and come to terms – it certainly can’t be easy to fight 12 separate cases that are pending on three different continents…

[Via: Reuters]