Last December Mark Lomas' article "When the chips are down" looked at the Nokia vs HTC patent litigation and focused on some of the lessons that flowed from Nokia's application for an injunction against the HTC One Mini handset in the Patents Court in the UK.
It now appears that the judgement has concentrated commercial minds afresh and the parties have looked at and opted for an alternative to ongoing litigation. HTC's press release, issued late 8 February, states that "Nokia and HTC have settled all pending patent litigation between them, and entered into a patent and technology collaboration agreement. HTC will make payments to Nokia and the collaboration will involve HTC's LTE patent portfolio, further strengthening Nokia's licensing offering". The markets seemed to approve as Nokia's shares moved up 6.9 percent after the announcement.
A smart move all round.
