Research In Motion Limited (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM), the struggling Canadian company well known for its BlackBerry devices, paid rival Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) €50m ($65m) to settle a patent dispute between the two companies.
The patents in question were related primarily to Wi-Fi networking, according to regulatory filings.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V), a Finnish multinational that manufactures mobile devices, went on the attack against RIM back in November. Nokia filed lawsuits in the UK, Canada, and the US, seeking to enforce a Swedish arbitration rule against RIM. If the ruling were upheld, it may have forced RIM to cease selling its Wi-Fi-enabled handsets in those markets, the Financial Times said.
Since then, the two companies have resolved the issue with RIM paying Nokia a lump-sum settlement. The settlement of “all patent litigation between the companies” along with a new patent licence agreement was first announced on December 21, although the terms of the settlement were not initially revealed.
But now Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) has disclosed further details of the settlement in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A document published on the agencies’ website said: “The financial structure of the agreement includes a lump sum 50 euro million one-time payment, which has been recorded in the company’s consolidated statement of operations in the third quarter.”
Analysts have estimated that in addition to the lump-sum, Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) will also pay Nokia a license fee of between $2 and $5 per handset sold that uses Nokia’s technology.
Both Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM) and Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) have suffered large setbacks in their mobile businesses. Both companies previously dominated the mobile market, but have slipped behind due to the success of iPhones and Androids. The latest iteration of the BlackBerry series will be the BlackBerry 10, which is due to become available later this month. Only yesterday, RIM confirmed the extension of a patent licensing agreement with InterDigital.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) is currently hedging its bets on the Lumia series of smartphones. The most recent incarnations of which are 4g enabled and run on Windows 8 mobile. Despite its struggles to make a solid comeback in the market, Nokia still holds patents on over 10,000 types of mobile technologies, after investing approximately $60bn in research and development over the past two decades.
