HTC-vs-NokiaWould it be more expensive for HTC to find workarounds for their devices in order to avoid infringing upon Nokia’s patents, or to sign an agreement with them in which HTC would pay Nokia in order to use their patents? Perhaps HTC has crunched the numbers and realized that the latter would make better financial sense because Nokia has recently announced that they and HTC have agreed to settle all outstanding patent litigation and to enter into a patent agreement, although exactly how much HTC will be paying Nokia for the right to use their patents remains unknown, unsurprisingly.

On the flipside, HTC will also be sharing some of their own patents with Nokia, particularly those concerning LTE. According to Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia, “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.” Melin goes on to state, “This agreement validates Nokia’s implementation patents and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities.” Grace Lei, General Counsel of HTC also had this to say about the agreement,  “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.”

HTC and Nokia have been embroiled in a legal battle for the past year or so, with Nokia appearing to have most of the wins in the courtrooms. This has led to Nokia successfully obtaining injunctions against some of HTC’s products which ultimately forced HTC to modify some of its devices to workaround the infringed patents, at least before this agreement was struck.

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