Smartphone maker HTC will have to pay up to Nokia to continue peddling its wares (via Android Central), as part of a patent license agreement set out by the two companies today. The settlement means that all pending litigation between the two companies is dismissed as of today, and the extent of the payments made by the Taiwanese company isn’t being made public.
Nokia has been racking up wins with regards to HTC’s use of what it views as its intellectual property. First, HTC was found to be in violation of a key microphone tech patent held by Nokia, and then the HTC One Mini was banned from sale in the UK over the use of certain chipsets (which was stayed), and finally the HTC One faced an injunction in Germany, too.
The deal will see HTC also share rights to its own LTE patent portfolio, meaning Nokia probably just generally won overall. It also sounds like future considerations are included in the deal, as evidenced by the suggestion that the two companies will “explore future technology collaboration opportunities.”
HTC is no stranger to paying up to use key mobile patents related to Android smartphones: It also signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft back in 2010 to avoid similar infringement claims. This new arrangement with Nokia seems like it’s probably a sort of 11th hour concession of defeat, coming as it does on the heels of a loss to the Finnish company by the District Court of Mannheim published earlier this week which would’ve seen HTC forced to rethink its device design. HTC had indicated at the time that it would seek to appeal the decision, but now, with all ongoing cases resolved in the deal, that’s off the table.
HTC can’t seem to catch a break, but with a rumored new flagship launch on the horizon, it’s probably best that the company take its licks and move forward rather than continue to be distracted by ongoing legal battles.