Nokia sues Amazon over patented tech in five jurisdictions
Finnish multinational accuses e-commerce giant and another tech company of ‘not playing by the rules’ | Dispute concerns video-related technology | Suits include a complaint filed at Unified Patent Court.
Nokia has filed a spate of lawsuits against Amazon over the alleged unauthorised use of the Finnish multinational’s video-related technologies in services and devices.
In a statement, the company confirmed that cases have been filed in the US, Germany, the UK, India, and the European Unified Patent Court.
Amazon Prime Video and Amazon’s streaming devices infringe a mix of Nokia’s multimedia patents covering multiple technologies including video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and aspects related to hardware, according to Nokia
The telecoms company has also filed cases in the US against HP for the alleged unauthorised use of Nokia’s patented multimedia technologies in their devices.
Playing by the rules
In a blog post published yesterday, October 31, Nokia chief licensing officer (new segments) said that the company had been “left with no option but to initiate litigation” and that “litigation was never the first choice”.
“We’ve been in discussions with each of Amazon and HP for a number of years, but sometimes litigation is the only way to respond to companies who choose not to play by the rules followed and respected by others. And let’s be clear: Amazon and HP benefit significantly from Nokia’s multimedia inventions,” he wrote.
Patel added that since 2017, Nokia has concluded or extended over 250 licences, and had launched just six litigation campaigns over this period.
He then highlighted a “mismatch between those who invested in developing the technologies that underpin streaming services and those who benefit the most”, adding that over-the-top (OTT) streaming has evolved into a “huge growth market”.
“In 2022, the global OTT streaming market generated almost $150 billion in revenue. This year it is expected to grow to more than $170 billion. And by 2027 the market is estimated to reach $300 billion,” wrote Patel.
A huge growth market
Over the past two decades, Nokia has invested more than €140 billion ($147 million)—and more than €4.5 billion ($4.7 million) last year alone—in R&D for cutting edge technologies including cellular and multimedia, he added.
As a result, Patel argued that Nokia holds “one of the world’s strongest patent portfolios of connectivity and multimedia technologies”, and that “entire industries” use the inventions.
In a statement, a Nokia spokesperson said: “Companies providing video streaming services or streaming devices enjoy huge benefits from the research and development conducted by Nokia and other innovators—without it their services and products would simply not work the way that consumers have come to expect.
“Nokia is seeking compensation for the use of its multimedia inventions, royalties which we will reinvest, along with substantial amounts of additional investment, in developing next generation multimedia technologies.
“We hope that Amazon and HP will now accept their obligations and agree to a licence, and our door remains open for good faith negotiations.”
These actions by Nokia come after it signed a licence with Lenovo in 2021 after courts in Germany ruled in its favour in a dispute.
Earlier this year, Nokia signed licensing agreements with Apple and Samsung.
When approached, Amazon declined to comment on the lawsuit.
WIPR has also approached HP for comment.
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