Nokia has won a limited victory in its long-running court battle with Qualcomm.

The US International Trade Commission has ruled that Nokia is not infringing Qualcomm patents relating to its 3G phones. The victory means the International Trade Commission will not ban the importing of Nokia handsets into the United States.

The case hinges on royalty payments Nokia must pay Qualcomm for use of its patents within its handsets.

The case is being heard in various venues - in the US in front of the ITC, in the UK Qualcomm has taken its complaint to the High Court.

Separately, the European Commission is investigating Qualcomm for possibly abusing the power it gained by having one of its patents accepted as an industry standard. The EC is running a similar investigation into Rambus - which is accused of a "patent ambush" - allowing an industry standard to be set without telling anyone it held patents to parts of the technology. The EC claims Rambus waited until the standard was in use before claiming patent payments.

In August Nokia tried, and failed, to get handsets containing Qualcomm chips banned from the US.®

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