Apple pressed to divulge Nokia patent deal to SEC

The SEC through a series of recently uncovered letters is now known to have chastised Apple for not giving details on its patent deal with Nokia. Officials at the US commission in a were concerned in a June 28 response (below) that Apple hadn't disclosed the amount and terms of the deal. Apple answered that it didn't consider the terms having a material impact on its results, triggering a disagreement with the SEC.

The agency sent a response (also below) on July 19 that directly ordered full terms of the deal, including how much Apple owed for alleged past violations as well as whether there was any plan to accommodate future devices under Nokia's 3G patents.

Apple responded on August 1 with full details but successfully had them redacted to avoid giving away company secrets. A final, August 17 SEC response (below) suggested that the government was content with the answers.

It's unclear why the terms weren't considered material. Unofficial estimates have Apple paying up to $608 million to Nokia. The results wouldn't seriously damage Apple's profits but would be noticeable in quarterly and annual results. It may have been keen to minimize the fallout from the deal, which ended a rapidly escalating series of lawsuits and trade disputes that could have taken each other's devices off of the market. [via MacRumors]

By Electronista Staff