Nokia and Apple sign patent license and business cooperation agreement, settle all litigation

Nokia and Apple have settled all litigation related to their intellectual property dispute and agreed a multi-year patent license. Nokia is had sued Apple in Germany and the U.S. for patent infringement of “fundamental technologies used in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products.”

“This is a meaningful agreement between Nokia and Apple,” said Maria Varsellona, chief legal Officer at Nokia, responsible for Nokia’s patent licensing business, in a press release. “It moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers.”

Under a business collaboration agreement, Nokia will be providing certain network infrastructure product and services to Apple. Apple will resume carrying Nokia digital health products (formerly under the Withings brand) in Apple retail and online stores, and Apple and Nokia are exploring future collaboration in digital health initiatives. Regular summits between top Nokia and Apple executives will ensure that the relationship works effectively and to the benefit of both parties and their customers.

While details of the agreement remain confidential, Nokia will receive an up-front cash payment from Apple, with additional revenues during the term of the agreement. The value of the agreement will be reflected partially as patent licensing net sales in Nokia Technologies and partially as net sales in other Nokia business groups. 

Nokia will follow its existing practices for disclosing patent licensing revenue in its quarterly announcements and expects that revenues for the agreement will start to be recognized in the second quarter of 2017, including an element of non-recurring catch-up revenue. Due to the up-front cash payment from Apple, Nokia intends to provide a comprehensive update of its capital structure optimization program in conjunction with its third quarter 2017 results.