Nokia lands another punch on Qualcomm

Nokia has won another battle in its ongoing patent spat with Qualcomm, though neither side is claiming the war is over.

Qualcomm was seeking to prevent Nokia handsets being sold in the UK, on the grounds that they infringed two of the San-Diego-based company's patents, but the judge ruled that one patent lacked novelty, while the other didn't feature an "inventive step", making it invalid.

This battle was nothing more than a side-show to the real fight, which is now scheduled to take place in Delaware come July; both companies having agreed to consolidate various US litigation into that case.

Even that conflict is only a central part of the dozen legal battles, across three continents, that the companies have launched since Nokia demanded a reduction in the patent fees it was paying to Qualcomm, back in April last year.

Delaware in July will be an important case both to Nokia and Qualcomm, as well as the rest of the mobile industry.