Nokia v Apple - coming to a court near you, if you live in Delaware

There could be fireworks in court in the not-too-distant future as Nokia are suing Apple in Delaware in the US for infringing on Nokia patents that cover GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) settings.

Vice president of legal & intellectual property at Nokia Ilkka Rahnasto said, "The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for . . . Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation."

Nokia said that it had agreements with about 40 firms (including most mobile phone handset makers) allowing them to use the firm's technology, but that Apple had not signed an agreement.

If they pull off a big court win, it could put a huge dent in Apple’s iPhone profits. Having said that, we haven’t got a fucking clue what any of it means to be perfectly honest.