ITC kills InterDigital patent claim against Nokia
updated 12:30 am EDT, Sat October 17, 2009
ITC finds Nokia not violating 3G patents
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) tonight exonerated Nokia by ending an investigation into claims by InterDigital that Nokia had violated its patents. The government agency has confirmed an initial decision by an Administrative Law Judge that said Nokia's use of UMTS-based 3G doesn't violate four InterDigital technology patents. Additionally, the ITC has rejected the portion of the judge's ruling that had originally found the patents valid and has denied InterDigital a chance to claim further patent violations.
The move follows a ruling in the UK that had also dismissed attempts by Philadelpha-based InterDigital to link several patents to UMTS and may have an impact on previous cases. Samsung last year agreed to a settlement rather than let a similar patent dispute reach a conclusion, while before this both Apple and BlackBerry creator Research in Motion had already paid the claimed patent holder.
It's not yet known if InterDigital will appeal the decision or if the other affected firms will react.
TAGS :
industry, Nokia, Samsung, lawsuits, Research in Motion, ITC, mobile phones, Apple, InterDigital
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2004
Huh!
Apparently there is a way to squash a patent troll. One must wonder what sort of diplomacy would give a federal commission the cause and power to overturn a federal judge, to find in favor of a foreign company. In fact, a foreign company with little remaining business in the US.
Don't get me wrong, I think bad patents should be invalidated, but the [administrative law] judge basically ruled that the patents were valid, meaning that he verified that InterDigital had lawfully applied for and received the patents from the USPTO. This doesn't attest to the soundness of the patents, just that they were obtained legally. The ITC is now coming in, and saying that it doesn't care about how lawfully the patents were obtained, they are invalid by fiat! It makes me wonder if the same would happen to valid patents, if a large foreign company had put pressure through their government channels to ours.
Think about this, and the fact that Steve went out of his way at the iPhone launch, to state that they covered the iPhone with as many patents as they could. For some reason, the number 200 is coming to my mind. Nokia is in a world of hurt right now, but they are the single largest employer in Finland, and one of the largest in europe. What if they could wipe out most of the iPhone's patents in a similar manner. As an Apple stockholder, it gives me pause.
-- Len