Nokia wins €1.7bn intellectual property payout from Apple

Nokia's lawyers earn their not inconsiderable fees

Nokia has trousered a €1.7bn windfall from Apple following the successful conclusion of an intellectual property dispute.

Nokia's chief financial officer, Kristian Pullola, revealed the payment and the difference that it would make in an earnings call with analysts last week.

"We got a substantial upfront cash payment of €1.7 billion from Apple, strengthening further our cash position," said Pullola.

He continued: "We got a substantial upfront cash payment of €1.7bn from Apple, strengthening further our cash position," he said. "As said earlier, our plans is to provide more details on the intended use of cash in conjunction with our Q3 earnings."

It was actually $2bn that Nokia got from Apple and, according to reports, Tim Cook decided to pay-up in order to avoid a long drawn-out legal battle.

V3 has contacted Apple for comment, and await a response.

Nokia sees the agreement with Apple as having more than just an immediate financial impact and said it would form part of a new strategy to remain a significant business in communications.

"In the fourth pillar of our strategy, creating new business and licensing opportunities in the consumer ecosystem, the licensing and business partnership agreement that we reached with Apple in the quarter was a clear highlight," it claimed. (PDF)

"You could see the benefit of that agreement in Nokia Technologies' results, and we look forward to continuing to expand our overall business with Apple in the coming months".

Nokia announced in December last year that it was suing Apple in the US and Germany because it felt that Apple products were infringing its own. Nokia said that while it has had long standing and friendly dealings with Apple for years, the firm had latterly started to ignore requests for compensation over other features.

"Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today's mobile devices, including Apple products," said Ilkka Rahnasto, head of patent business at Nokia.

"After several years of negotiations trying to reach agreement to cover Apple's use of these patents, we are now taking action to defend our rights."