Nokia wins UK patent spat: Quick, let's boot HTC One out of Blighty

Finnish firm seeks injunction AND compensation

Nokia is looking to stop the sale of HTC mobes, including the HTC One, in Blighty after winning a patent case in the High Court.

The Finnish firm has gotten off to a good start in its new guise as a patent-peddler now that its devices business has been sold off to Microsoft. The High Court ruled that HTC was infringing on the design for a modulator to transmit data, filed as a patent in 1998.

HTC has said that it is "disappointed" with the decision and said it plans to appeal.

Nokia is pushing ahead with claims for compensation as well as an injunction against HTC devices using the technology, which definitely include the HTC One, One SV and Wildfire S and may also include other One models, the Desire X and the 8X and 8S.

"Today’s judgment is a significant development in our dispute with HTC," the company said. "Nokia will now seek an injunction against the import and sale of infringing HTC products in the UK as well as financial compensation."

HTC tried to argue that it had the right to use the technology because it was contained in chips it had bought from Qualcomm, which has its own licence. In US law, the "exhaustion doctrine" protects people from having to pay over and over for patents for technology that has been resold.

But the High Court said that the US deal that Qualcomm had with Nokia only dealt with US IP and didn't cover its European patents.

"HTC cannot have acquired greater rights on purchasing the chips from Qualcomm than Qualcomm was granted by Nokia under the Agreement," Mr Justice Arnold wrote in his decision.

"If the licensee has no right to sell in the UK, then a purchaser from the licensee cannot be in a better position."

Nokia is pursuing a number of cases against HTC globally, including patent accusations in Germany, Japan, Italy and the US relating to this case. The firm says it has asserted more than 50 patents against HTC.

Earlier this year, the company won a preliminary injunction against the HTC One in Amsterdam for a patent on technology for microphones used in the phones.

The International Trade Commission in America also ruled recently that HTC was infringing on two Nokia patents for sending and receiving signals, a decision that could also lead to an injunction.

However, HTC has had its own wins too. The Taiwanese firm defeated a patent action in Germany on two counts of infringement through the Android ecosystem. ®