German court dismisses two Nokia patent infringement claims against HTC
German district court dismisses two infringement claims against Taiwan firm
Taiwan's top smartphone maker HTC said yesterday that a German court had dismissed two patent infringement complaints brought against it by Finnish phone giant Nokia.
HTC said it believed "Nokia has exaggerated the scope of its patent in order to extract unwarranted licensing royalties from Android handset manufacturers", adding: "We are gratified that the court apparently shares HTC's view."
One of Nokia's complaints alleged that HTC infringed a part of its patent on "a method for using services offered by a telecommunications network, a telecommunications system, and a terminal for it", HTC said, in a case reportedly involving distribution of the Google Play application store.
In a separate judgment the court rejected Nokia's complaint that claimed HTC infringed a patent for lightening and dimming the smartphone display.
Nokia can appeal the ruling.
"Nokia respectfully disagrees with the court's decision and we are considering our options," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said. Nokia asserted violation of more than 30 further patents against HTC in Germany, the United States and Britain and expects to prevail regarding those, he said.
The Mannheim court is slated to rule on March 19 on whether HTC infringed a Nokia patent for technology used to regulate a device's battery power use.
Technology giants have taken to routinely filing patent lawsuits against one other. For instance, Apple has accused HTC of infringing on Apple-held patents.
Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg
