Nokia has just attacked the Google Nexus 7, which was revealed last week at Google I/O, stating that it infringed on several of its WiFi patents that it owns. It is likely that the patents that Nokia called out have to do with the IEEE 802.11 WiFi standard. A Nokia spokesperson commented on the situation when contacted by The Inquirer: “Nokia has more than 40 licensees, mainly for its standards essential patent portfolio, including most of the mobile device manufacturers. Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under our patent portfolio. Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license.”
Unlike Apple, Nokia will most likely not seek an injunction against Asus or Google and will probably just ask either of them to file for the proper license or worst case scenario ask for royalties. Asus stated that it will currently not provide any comment on the situation. Nokia is probably looking to make some money off of the licensing fees as opposed to getting into a huge legal battle that could be very expensive when they could make some nice money off royalty fees or licensing fees. It is also different from an Apple situation in which Nokia currently doesn’t have a direct tablet competitor with the Nexus 7. This is evident with how Microsoft makes more money off Android than it does off Windows Phone 7. Disregarding Nokia’s intentions, it’s nice to see Nokia looking for a simple fix as opposed to a huge legal battle which has become more common in the tech industry as the field gets more competitive.