Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/11/nokia_htc_patent_agreement/

Nokia and HTC throw down swords, sign patent war peace treaty

This battle's over but the war machine keeps turning

By Brid-Aine Parnell

Posted in Legal, 11th February 2014 12:01 GMT

Nokia and HTC have decided to bury the patent hatchet and spar no more in courts throughout the world after the two companies signed a patent and technology collaboration agreement.

The two firms were just one pair of the many firms battling on multiple fronts in the Great Patent War, with ongoing lawsuits in Europe and the US, but have now settled all pending patent litigation between them.

The companies didn't disclose too many details of the deal, but did say that HTC would be making payments to Nokia and that the collaboration would involve HTC's LTE patent portfolio. The newly minted chums are also planning to "explore future technology collaboration opportunities".

"Nokia has one of the most pre-eminent patent portfolios in the industry," said HTC general counsel Grace Lei in a canned statement.

"As an industry pioneer in smartphones with a strong patent portfolio, HTC is pleased to come to this agreement, which will enable us to stay focused on innovation for consumers," Lei added.

"We are very pleased to have reached a settlement and collaboration agreement with HTC, which is a long standing licensee for Nokia's standards-essential patents," said Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia.

It's beginning to seem like a mild peace has broken out on some of the smaller patent fronts, with Google and Cisco signing on the dotted line recently and Google also agreeing to cross-license with Android buddy Samsung, while Samsung has made up with Ericsson as well.

It remains to be seen if the patent war superpowers – Apple and Samsung – will be able to come to any kind of arrangement when they're forced into talking to each other in court-mandated mediation some time this month. ®