The UK High Court has said that Nokia has infringed a patent held by German patent licensing company IPCom after ruling that the patent was valid.
IPCom had bought the ‘268’ patent in 2007. The company had been fighting the Finnish phone maker since then. It lost against Nokia in January 2010, when the court ruled that the patent held by IPCom was invalid. Justice Floyd has now ruled the amended patent is "valid and infringed" by some Nokia devices.
IPCom has said that it would be seeking damages and a ban on the sale of Nokia devices using its patented technology.
IPCom said Nokia is infringing a patent that "allows mobile telephony networks to assign priorities to users."
IPCom managing director Bernhard Frohwitter said, "As far as we know, this is the first time that an essential telecoms 3G patent was ever upheld and judged infringed in the U.K."
Nokia has said that it disagrees with the ruling and that it would not impact sales in the UK. The company told Bloomberg that it would appeal the decision.
It said, "We are pleased that the UK High Court declared that Nokia’s current products do not infringe the patent. This means that we can continue selling those products, now with legal certainty."
