Nokia announced today that it reached a settlement with Apple after a two-year legal battle over smartphone technology, the company said Tuesday.
The settlement consists of a one-time payment and on-going royalties by Apple for the length of their agreement, but the specific terms are kept confidential, Nokia said in a statement. The one-time payment is rumored to be $608 million.
"We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees," said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Nokia.
Apple's view of the situation was slightly different.
“Apple and Nokia have agreed to drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a license covering some of each other’s patents, but not the majority of the innovation that makes the iPhone unique,” Apple told the New York Times. “We are glad to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses.”
The two mobile phone companies have been in a legal wrangle for the last two years over 40 patent lawsuits in three different countries. The lawsuits involved patents on handsets such as antennas, user interfaces and cameras.
While this news is likely to raise Nokia's stock price, it has no such cachet for Apple. While some argue that Apple settled only because of pricey litigation, the company easily could have settled because it knew it couldn't win.
