Patent woes
A German court found the Finnish mobile phone company Nokia had violated patents belonging to German patent firm IPCom.
Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said the ruling affected phones that were no longer being sold but it still means more misery for the troubled former rubber boot maker. It might mean more than that. IPCom insists that the ruling hits all of Nokia's UMTS-compatible mobile phones. The company added that the Mannheim court did not accept that alternative designs by Nokia did not infringe the patent.
IPCom wants Nokia to pay royalties for a portfolio of mobile patents it acquired in 2007 from Robert Bosch and the two firms have a series of legal battles across Europe. This particular ruling relates to 'patent 100DE', part of a group which covers how to connect devices to 3G networks and prioritise them.
Shares in Nokia, which has been struggling to compete with both high-end smartphone rivals and cheaper competitors, were down 4.8 percent. The ruling came the day after Nokia announced a bigger-than-expected loss, dropped its sales chief, and said it would cut more costs.
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Mobiles
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