Post 13: Nokia vs. HTC in German court

Another interesting topic I get from FOSSpatent is about the lawsuit between Nokia and HTC titled “German court dismisses two Nokia patent lawsuits against HTC”.  It stated the German Judge made final rulings against two Nokia cases. Both cases were dismissed because the court was not convinced of Nokia’s infringement allegations. It seems like Nokia will appeal these decisions later on.

Recently, there are more than 30 patent lawsuits between Nokia and HTC. As we all know that Nokia has huge patent portfolios in the industry. In fact, Nokia’s patent portfolio maybe even more valuable than the company’s smartphone business. We have noticed that Nokia is not very aggressive on the patent issue. It always choose to settle with the infringing party, without dealing with the prolonged and costly litigation. Unless the other party insists on denying infringement, then Nokia will take legal action.

We realize that unlike the general objectives pursued by normal patent litigation, the main purpose of these giant patent battles is not about the compensation, but the international market. In short, the patent investigations or proceedings have become another powerful competitive weapon in the market. Furthermore, the destruction of these weapons will be far greater than the effects of the general marketing competition. In this Nokia and HTC case, the primary point directs to HTC’s access rights to the German market. Since German is an important market for HTC, according to the data from IDC, HTC smartphones in Germany’s annual sales is about $2 million. Apparently, it will be a huge hit for HTC if Germany closes its gate. I think if HTC cannot seize the opportunity to improve its missing on patent rapidly, it will get harder and harder for HTC to go forward and achieve its aim, which is being the world’s top brand.