Nokia Sues Apple for Infringement

According to the suit, which was filed in the US Federal Court, Nokia claims that Apple's iPhone uses wireless technology, among other things, which is patented by Nokia. It goes on to list about 10 patent infringements, related to making calls and using Wi-Fi technology on the Apple iPhone. Nokia has also claimed that 40 other cellphone manufacturers have licensed these patents from them, something Apple never bothered to do.

In the cellphone world, these cases are a dime a dozen, with companies regularly suing each other over patent infringement. In most cases, it is resolved by either agreeing to pay the licensing fees, or sharing each other's patents, something that Apple would certainly not like doing.

Apple has recently been in the news for quite a few reasons, ranging from exploding iPhones, to a case over the ownership of the name 'iPhone' itself. For Nokia, which incidentally has shown a quarterly loss for the first time this decade - thanks to the iPhone eating up some of its smartphone market share - this could be a sweet deal. With iPhones being shipped since early 2007, licensing fees could amount to quite a fortune - at least several hundred million dollars, if not a billion dollars.

The case was filed in the US District Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. was unavailable for comment.