Nokia and Samsung announce expanded patent licensing deal

Nokia and Samsung are cozying up together for the second time this year after the duo announced an expansion of the patent licensing deal that they agreed back in February.

Under these new terms, the companies will share “certain additional patent portfolios”. The pair’s previous deal covered an unspecific set of patents, and this latest announce is equally as vague. But, Nokia — which massively expanded its patent trove with its $16 billion purchase of Alcatel-Lucent — was more specific on the financial outcome of this agreement, which it said will increase revenue from patent and licensing to around EUR 950 million, that’s about $1 billion, per year. Certainly a figure worth writing home about.

“With intellectual property portfolios from Nokia Technologies, Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia has a wealth of technologies relevant to mobile devices and beyond. We welcome this expanded agreement with Samsung which recognizes the strength of our assets, and we continue to pursue new licensing opportunities across a number of diverse industries,” Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies, said in a statement.

Nokia is plotting a return to the consumer smartphone business in the near future and the Finnish firm struck a licensing deal to create a “new generation of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets” earlier this year. As part of that, FIH — a subsidiary of manufacturing giant Foxconn — acquired Nokia’s feature phone business from Microsoft. Nokia also made a major consumer market move when it acquired French wearable tech company Withings for around $190 million.