Nokia loses latest round of HTC dispute
Phone maker Nokia has failed to convince a German judge that HTC’s products infringe one of its patents, in the latest round of the companies’ dispute.
Judge Matthias Zigann, sitting at the Munich Regional I Court, today cleared HTC of violating EP 0804046, which protects a “method and apparatus for updating the software of a mobile terminal using the air interface”.
The judgement is not available, but patent blogger Florian Müller, who attended the hearing, said the court reasoned that “HTC's devices don't meet the claim limitations of a ‘first memory’ and a ‘second memory’”.
As a result, he said, the court rejected Nokia’s proposed claim construction “that would have had scope for different areas of the same memory, organised by software means, to constitute different ‘memories’ within the meaning of the patent”.
Nokia said in a statement that it “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling and that the company is considering appealing.
The statement added: “However, this does not change the fact that the same court found in December 2013 that two other Nokia patents were infringed by HTC products, enabling Nokia to enforce injunctions against the import and sale of all infringing HTC products in Germany, as well as to obtain damages for past infringement.”
HTC did not respond to a request for comment.
Though the judgement is not likely to be available for another two weeks, it will be well-reasoned, said Philipp Cepl, senior associate at Allen & Overy LLP in Düsseldorf, who knows Judge Zigann personally.
“He is an extremely experienced judge, has a clear understanding and is a good patent guy,” he said.
Under Zigann’s guidance, Munich is now in the top three German destinations for handling patent cases, added Cepl, as Judge Zigann has managed to streamline proceedings.
“You get quite a fast decision in Munich compared with other courts in Germany,” Cepl said.
Cepl stressed that the latest decision must be viewed in a much wider context, as the disputed patent is one of about 50 asserted against HTC.
A settlement between the parties is unlikely to materialise soon, he continued.
“As I know Nokia, they can be quite insistent and they will continue litigating the case unless they get the money they consider appropriate to settle.”
The German ruling comes about a month after Mr Justice Arnold, a UK High Court judge, ordered HTC to shelve its One mini product because it infringed a Nokia patent, entitled “Modulator structure for a transmitter and a mobile station”. HTC later appealed, and the Court of Appeal stayed the injunction pending another hearing.
Nokia sued HTC in 2012 and has asserted more than 50 patents against its rival. Nokia says that since filing suit, HTC has been found to infringe six Nokia patents – at German courts in Mannheim and Munich, as well as at the UK High Court and the US International Trade Commission. The ITC ruling is under review.
In September last year, Microsoft agreed to license around 30,000 patents owned by Nokia as part of a €5.44 billion ($7.16 billion) buyout of the Finnish company’s mobile phone division.
