Wireless industry is in war mood these days. Almost all companies fighting patent lawsuits against other. This week Ericsson sued Samsung over number of wireless patent disputes. But the big news is Nokia won patent lawsuits against the Blackberry makers. Now Nokia wants sales ban on number of Blackberry phones which use it’s WiFi patents.
Nokia said in a statement that a Swedish tribunal “found that RIM was in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products” without first agreeing to royalty terms with Nokia. As a result, Nokia said it is seeking court action to block the sale of RIM devices with Wi-Fi capabilities in the United States, the UK and Canada. (Wireless local access network technology, or WLAN, is usually marketed as Wi-Fi.)
RIM is not doing so good these days and it’s market share are not promising. Analysts have warned of dire consequences for RIM: “This could have a significant financial impact to RIM, as all BlackBerry devices support WLAN,” IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo told Reuters.
Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham added: “If a sales ban was imposed it would be a massive blow for RIM as it manages its transition to the new BlackBerry 10 software platform.”
Nokia said more than 40 companies license its handset patents, but RIM had argued that an earlier licensing deal with Nokia meant it should not have to pay a separate fee for Wi-Fi technology.
Peter Misek, an analyst at the New York-based investment bank Jefferies, said Nokia’s filings mean that RIM likely will end up paying royalties of $2 to $5 per phone, according to Newser.