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Companies strike multi-year licensing deal; pledge to hold regular ‘summits’.
Nokia and Apple on Tuesday settled their patent-licensing dispute and established a so-called business collaboration agreement.
The spat kicked off in late December, when Apple filed a lawsuit accusing Nokia and its partners of trying to extract exorbitant patent revenues from the iPhone maker. Nokia hit back with a lawsuit of its own, alleging that Apple had infringed 32 of its patents.
Under the multi-year deal reached on Tuesday, Nokia will receive an upfront cash payment as well as ongoing revenues throughout the term of the agreement. Apple has also agreed to resume selling Nokia’s digital health products, and the two will explore possible collaboration opportunities relating to digital health.
Meanwhile, Nokia has agreed to provide network infrastructure products and services to Apple.
"This is a meaningful agreement between Nokia and Apple," said Maria Varsellona, Nokia’s chief legal officer, responsible for the Finnish kit maker’s patent-licensing business. "It moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers."
In addition, Nokia and Apple will hold regular summits between executives to ensure the partnership works effectively.
"We are pleased with this resolution of our dispute and we look forward to expanding our business relationship with Nokia," said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.
