Apple’s iPhone has been giving Nokia smartphones a hard time in the marketplace. Now Nokia is giving Apple a hard time in the courtroom.
The Finnish handset giant said Oct. 22 it has filed suit against Apple (AAPL) in U.S. District Court in Delaware, accusing its California-based rival of infringing patents for core technology that allows the iPhone to make calls and connect to the mobile Internet. Although Nokia (NOK) has sued rivals such as Qualcomm (QCOM) over patents in the past, the latest lawsuit came as a surprise—and represents an escalation of increasingly contentious competition with Apple.
In a statement, Nokia said Apple has refused to pay for use of intellectual property developed by Nokia that lets handsets connect to third-generation, or 3G, wireless networks, as well as to wireless local area networks. “Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation,” Ilkka Rahnasto, Nokia vice-president for legal and intellectual property, said in the statement. An Apple representative declined to comment.
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