Nokia: Apple isn’t a victim of monopoly

Nokia asked a Texas federal judge Thursday to toss antitrust counterclaims by Apple in a patent infringement suit over video compression technology, calling the tech giant’s protestations that it was the victim of a monopoly a meritless attempt to impede Nokia’s infringement claims, reports the Law 360 website.

Nokia is suing Apple in Germany and the U.S. for patent infringement. “Since agreeing (to) a license covering some patents from the Nokia Technologies portfolio in 2011, Apple has declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other of its patented inventions which are used by many of Apple’s products,” Nokia says.

For the past five years, Apple has paid Nokia a small royalty for the use of its patents. However, that deal expired on Dec. 31, 2016, and Nokia wants Apple to keep paying for that portfolio, and is demanding that Apple license additional patents. Apple is refusing to pay Nokia’s price and has accused it of extortion.

Apple claims Nokia and its patent partners, which include Acacia Research and Conversant Intellectual Property Management, have colluded to raise patent prices in violation of federal antitrust law. The tech giant accuses Nokia of trying to monopolize the market in wireless technology.