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Nokia, RIM settle Wi-Fi patent battle, legal spats dispersed

Nokia and RIM have entered into new licensing agreements for Wi-Fi technology.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer
research-in-motion-nokia patent wifi dispute

Nokia has announced that it has entered a new patent licensing deal with Research in Motion.

The Finnish firm will accept a one-time payment scheduled for Q4 and on-going payments from Canadian BlackBerry maker RIM, although the specific terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

"We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM and reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect our unique product differentiation," said Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia. "This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

Friday's announcement means that all existing patent disputes and outstanding court cases between the two firms will be withdrawn in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. However, Nokia's disputes with Taiwanese firm HTC and ViewSonic still stand.

Nokia took RIM, HTC and ViewSonic to court in May this year, as part of an effort to "protect its innovations and intellectual property." A dozen complaints were submitted by the Finnish firm to the U.S. International Trade Commission (FTC) before the case went further, Nokia stating that approximately 45 patents it owned, licensed as standard-essential patents, were being used without authorization.  

This isn't the first time Nokia has managed to secure a deal with another tech firm outside of the court house. Apple has also licensed a number of patents from the company after the iPad and iPhone maker was sued for patent infringement, and no matter if the Finnish handset maker is losing out in the global race for smartphone marketshare, its patents remain a viable revenue stream. 

Research in Motion has recently beaten financial expectations in the third quarter. The BlackBerry maker was expected to report a third quarter loss of 35 cents a share on revenue of $2.66 billion, but managed to secure a net income of $14 million, or 3 cents a share. The firm shipped approximately 6.9 million BlackBerry smartphones and 255,000 PlayBook tablets in Q3 2012.

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