NOKIA FILES EVEN MORE PATENT LAWSUITS AGAINST APPLE

Nokia has filed new patent infringement lawsuits against Apple on Thursday, a day after it weighed in on a licensing dispute with the company by filing claims in Germany and the U.S.

On Wednesday, the Finland-based mobile network vendor filed lawsuits in three German courts and two lawsuits in a Texas court, leveling infringement claims against Apple on the widely used H.264 video codec and other technologies. Those suits cover 32 of Nokia’s patents.

Nokia’s first round of lawsuits came after Apple filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Nokia of working with patent assertion firms Acacia Research and Conversant Intellectual Property Management to “extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively” from Apple and other smartphone makers.

On Thursday, Nokia announced new lawsuits against Apple, with 40 patents covered in the claims filed this week. The company’s new lawsuits were filed in Finland, the U.K., Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Hong Kong, and Japan.

In addition, Nokia has filed a complaint against Apple with the U.S. International Trade Commission, which has the power to bar the importation of products to the U.S. if they are found to infringe patents. The USITC complaint covers eight patents.

Some of the disputes revolve around promises by Nokia to license some H.264 technologies on reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) terms. Nokia has accused Apple of refusing to negotiate for licenses for some H.264 technologies, while Apple has accused Nokia of violating RAND promises.

Apple products using the H.264 video codec include the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Macs, and Apple TV, Nokia said in a complaint filed Wednesday in Texas.

Other Nokia patents in the lawsuits are related to displays, user interfaces, software, antennas, and chipsets.