Patent infringement: Nokia sues Amazon and HP, seeks compensation

San Francisco: Smartphone major Nokia has sued Amazon and HP, and sought compensation over patent infringement.

According to Nokia, the two companies illegally used Nokia’s video-related technologies in their services and devices.

“Amazon Prime Video and Amazon’s streaming devices infringe a mix of Nokia’s multimedia patents covering multiple technologies including video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and aspects related to hardware,” Arvin Patel, Chief Licensing Officer, New Segments at Nokia, said in a blog post on Tuesday.

The cases against Amazon have been filed in the US, Germany, India, the UK and the European Unified Patent Court.

Separately, Nokia filed cases in the US against HP for “the unauthorised use of Nokia’s patented video-related technologies in their devices,” said Patel.

Since 2017, Nokia has concluded or extended over 250 licenses – including amicable licenses with Apple and Samsung - and launched just 6 litigation campaigns.

“We’ve been in discussions with each of Amazon and HP for a number of years, but sometimes litigation is the only way to respond to companies who choose not to play by the rules followed and respected by others. And let’s be clear: Amazon and HP benefit significantly from Nokia’s multimedia inventions,” Patel added.

Since 2000, Nokia has invested more than 140 billion euros (and over 4.5 billion euros last year alone) in R&D for cutting-edge technologies including cellular and multimedia. “As a result, we hold one of the world’s strongest patent portfolios of connectivity and multimedia technologies - and it is no exaggeration to say that entire industries are powered by these inventions,” Patel informed.

Nokia is now seeking compensation for the use of its technologies, royalties which “we will reinvest, along with substantial amounts of additional investment, in the development of next-generation multimedia technology”.

“Litigation is never our first choice. Our preference is to reach amicable agreements with the companies who rely upon our technology, and our door remains open for constructive, good-faith negotiations,” the company said.

With inputs from IANS