Nokia wins mobile patent judgment in UK against HTC

Finnish telecoms group Nokia scored another victory on Wednesday in its patent battle against Taiwan-based rival HTC Corporation with a British court ruling in its favour over mobile telecoms technology.

After hearing the case in the Patents Court in London, the judge decided that HTC had infringed on a European Patent held by Nokia entitled "Modulator structure for a transmitter and a mobile station", according to court documents.

Wins against HTC

The ruling comes as Nokia seeks to better exploit its trove of technology patents, which will remain with the company after the sale of its handset business to Microsoft is completed next year. "Today's judgment is a significant development in our dispute with HTC," a Nokia spokesman said. "Nokia will now seek an injunction against the import and sale of infringing HTC products in the UK as well as financial compensation." A spokesman for HTC said it would appeal against the finding.

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Nokia's shares closed up 4.5 percent at a high for the year of 5.59 euros, extending gains made on Tuesday when it forecast a higher operating margin for its network equipment unit Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN), which will become its main business after the Microsoft sale. HTC's shares closed trading earlier in the day up 2.8 percent at 145 Taiwan dollars.

The Finnish company started its legal fight against HTC in 2012, part of a global patent war among makers of mobile phones and tablet computers. Wednesday's ruling also follows a September ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which found that HTC infringed on two Nokia patents in making its mobile telephones and tablets.

Nokia is one of the industry's top patent holders, along with Qualcomm and Ericsson , having invested around 45 billion euros in mobile research and development over the past two decades. The company, which has struggled to turn around its business after a late start in smartphones, announced in September that it would sell its handset business and would license its patents to Microsoft for 5.44 billion euros. The deal is due to close in the first quarter next year.

Reuters