Apple and Nokia have to stroke another long-term patent license agreement. With the new deal, Apple will have access to multiple patents from Nokia. These include inventions in 5G and more. The announcement was made today by Nokia which does not seem to hide its excitement.
Nokia and Apple New Deal Will Replace Patent Agreement from 2017
The two giants of tech had a previous licensing deal that was set to expire at the end of 2023. Ahead of this deadline, the new deal has been signed and will replace the current one. Nokia and Apple have not disclosed the terms of the deal, but Nokia will be receiving payments from Apple which will be able to use its technologies.
While Nokia may not be the most influential brand in the smartphone scene it has some of the most important technologies moving this industry. We have a couple of smartphones coming from HMD Global which has a licensing agreement with the firm for using its name on smartphones, yes, but they are not buzzing as other brands. Nokia’s main power comes thanks to its unique technologies and a long record of patents and technologies. Nokia owns more than 20,000 patents, including 5,500 patents that are related to 5G technology.
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The Finnish brand currently offers its patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms because many of them are essential. Hence, many companies can license Nokia technologies for a reasonable price, although there are ongoing disputes trying to determine what is “reasonable”. Apple is one of these companies getting access to Nokia’s expertise via licensing agreements, but it wasn’t always like this.
In 2017, the two giants established a patent licensing agreement after months of a heated legal dispute. That dispute ended in an agreement set to expire in 2023. Thankfully, we are not going through new rounds of legal battles, as both parties decided to continue the fair play. None of the parts is disclosing the monetary details of the new deal. However, we expect to see these details appearing in Nokia’s Q1 2024 earnings.
Nowadays most Apple products rely on 5G technology, so it makes perfect sense for the company to keep this deal alive.
