5 ms·

Apple paid Nokia $2B as part of a patent lawsuit settlement

49 points by janober 9y ago

patkai 9y ago
I only bought the WiThings thermometer so far, but it's a beautiful product, and funnily Apple seems to be the most natural acquirer for it. Also, AFAIK Nokia is a brand nowadays, not a company, so it would be more exact to talk about "the owner of the Nokia brand", no?
- pkd 9y ago
  Nokia is still a company. They sold only their mobility business to Microsoft. They are big players in telecommunication hardware. Rajiv Suri is the CEO.
  - patkai 9y ago
    True, I remember reading something complicated about this, but I just looked up the Finnish records: https://www.finder.fi/Televiestint%C3%A4laitteita+ja+palveluja/Nokia+Oyj/Espoo/yhteystiedot/159843 https://www.finder.fi/Televiestint%C3%A4laitteita+ja+palvelu... Funny thing is that Nokia was established in 1896!
    - mattl 9y ago
      Just a couple years after Nintendo in 1889.
  - legulere 9y ago
    And only the phone side of it. Nokia Networks is still part of Nokia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Networks
  - vonkale 9y ago
    It's actually a really great turnaround story by Nokia. They sold their sinking mobile phone hardware part of the company to Microsoft. They kept their part of the Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and the Nokia Research Center (now Nokia Technologies), which owns all the patents and licenses Nokia has ever developed. They also sold their HERE maps unit to car makers. During all this Nokia bought Siemens share of the NSN and this formed the basis to the new Nokia. Then they bought french networking equipment company Alcatel-Lucent. Now Nokia is one of the worlds largest telecommunications and networking equipment manufacturer along Huawei and Ericsson. Previously Nokia was one of the world largest brands and consumer electronics company.
- bobsam 9y ago
  I believe you are wrong regarding the new Nokia: https://www.reddit.com/r/Nokia/comments/6niivf/so_is_it_hmd_nokia_or_foxconn/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Nokia/comments/6niivf/so_is_it_hmd_...
bobsam 9y ago
Nokia also had a number of proxy lawsuits against apple. Does anyone know if they were included in this settlement?
josaka 9y ago
I wonder what this is on a per-device basis. The article states "this was non-recurring catch-up" payment, and that the suits were filed about six months before settling. Assuming license fees are driven by iphone sales, and Apple paid one year's back payments for approx. 200 million iphones, Apple appears to be paying around $10 per iphone to Nokia.
mmanfrin 9y ago
Nokia-Nokia or Microsoft-Nokia?
- xyzxyz998 9y ago
  I don't think Microsoft was sold the patents

49 points by janober 9y ago

I only bought the WiThings thermometer so far, but it's a beautiful product, and funnily Apple seems to be the most natural acquirer for it. Also, AFAIK Nokia is a brand nowadays, not a company, so it would be more exact to talk about "the owner of the Nokia brand", no?

pkd 9y ago
Nokia is still a company. They sold only their mobility business to Microsoft. They are big players in telecommunication hardware. Rajiv Suri is the CEO.
- patkai 9y ago
  True, I remember reading something complicated about this, but I just looked up the Finnish records: https://www.finder.fi/Televiestint%C3%A4laitteita+ja+palveluja/Nokia+Oyj/Espoo/yhteystiedot/159843 https://www.finder.fi/Televiestint%C3%A4laitteita+ja+palvelu... Funny thing is that Nokia was established in 1896!
  - mattl 9y ago
    Just a couple years after Nintendo in 1889.
- legulere 9y ago
  And only the phone side of it. Nokia Networks is still part of Nokia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Networks
- vonkale 9y ago
  It's actually a really great turnaround story by Nokia. They sold their sinking mobile phone hardware part of the company to Microsoft. They kept their part of the Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and the Nokia Research Center (now Nokia Technologies), which owns all the patents and licenses Nokia has ever developed. They also sold their HERE maps unit to car makers. During all this Nokia bought Siemens share of the NSN and this formed the basis to the new Nokia. Then they bought french networking equipment company Alcatel-Lucent. Now Nokia is one of the worlds largest telecommunications and networking equipment manufacturer along Huawei and Ericsson. Previously Nokia was one of the world largest brands and consumer electronics company.
bobsam 9y ago
I believe you are wrong regarding the new Nokia: https://www.reddit.com/r/Nokia/comments/6niivf/so_is_it_hmd_nokia_or_foxconn/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Nokia/comments/6niivf/so_is_it_hmd_...

bobsam 9y ago

Nokia also had a number of proxy lawsuits against apple. Does anyone know if they were included in this settlement?

josaka 9y ago

I wonder what this is on a per-device basis. The article states "this was non-recurring catch-up" payment, and that the suits were filed about six months before settling. Assuming license fees are driven by iphone sales, and Apple paid one year's back payments for approx. 200 million iphones, Apple appears to be paying around $10 per iphone to Nokia.

mmanfrin 9y ago

Nokia-Nokia or Microsoft-Nokia?

xyzxyz998 9y ago
I don't think Microsoft was sold the patents