#BlackBerry sues #Nokia for patents in networking gear

BlackBerry, once one of the biggest business smartphone manufacturers on the planet, filed a patent-infringement suit against Nokia, once the biggest phone manufacturer in the world. BlackBerry claims that Nokia’s networking gear infringes 11 standard-essential patents owned by BlackBerry. They claim that Nokia knows about it, because BlackBerry-owned patents are cited in some Nokia patents.

Some of the patents in question were previously owned by Nortel, who later sold them to BlackBerry, Microsoft, Apple, and others from the group called Rockstar Consortium.

Unlike Nokia, BlackBerry did not sell its mobile business, but decided to shrink it and spin it to TCL, who will be/is making BlackBerry-branded devices. Nokia, on the other hand, sold its Devices & Services business, and later decided to return the brand to market via an interesting corporate scheme with HMD and Foxconn.

In the patent world, Nokia is in an open war with Apple, suing the Cupertino-based company in 11 countries for over 50 patents. Nokia estimates that the patent war with Apple could cost up to €100 million annually.

Source: Bloomberg