Nokia has announced that it has paid Qualcomm $20 million for the right to use 3G-related patents covering the second quarter 2007 despite the two continue their mammoth legal dispute over their old license agreement.

Nokia and Qualcomm are in the process of renegotiating the 1992 patent license agreements and Nokia’s obligations to pay license fees under these old agreements expire on April 9, 2007.

The payment does not extend, and is not related to, the old agreement, Nokia said. It is made for the licenses which Qualcomm makes available through the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute, the organization responsible for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System 3G mobile phone standard, among others.

“As we continue to negotiate the new cross-license agreement, Nokia views this payment as fair and reasonable compensation for the use of relevant Qualcomm essential patents in Nokia UMTS handsets during the second quarter of 2007,” said Rick Simonson, chief financial officer at Nokia.

Nokia said it will make similar payments in the future.

On April 3, Qualcomm filed suits in two US District Courts, seeking to block sales of Nokia phones using some GSM, GPRS and EDGE technology because, it said, they infringed on its patents. Qualcomm has similar patent enforcement actions pending in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and China, it said.

Last month, Nokia filed suit against Qualcomm in the Germany and Netherlands. The mobile firm argues that it shouldn’t have to license some Qualcomm patents because its suppliers had already paid to license the disputed technology themselves.

The two companies have conducted their negotiations as much in the courts as elsewhere.

When the companies’ patent agreement expires on April 9, some of Qualcomm’s earlier patents expire with it, which may have impact to the dispute.

It’s hard to tell which firm will win but we can expect that the legal battle can go deeper.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 2:02 pm under Cell phones, Legal, Technology.

Read more entries by Ruben Francia.
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