Qualcomm files new patent suits against Nokia

Qualcomm said on Tuesday it had filed two new lawsuits in the United States against Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, alleging infringement of five patents.

The suits are the latest in a series of legal wrangles between the two firms, which have also been battling over the renewal of a major technology licensing agreement that expires next Monday.

Qualcomm, the dominant supplier of chips for mobile phones based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology, said the patents in the new lawsuits relate to the downloading of applications over wireless networks and speech encoders used in certain phones.

It said the suits concern Nokia GSM/GPRS/EDGE cellular phones and that it wanted an injunction against sales of the handsets and damages related to those already sold.

A Nokia spokeswoman said the Finnish-based company believed the latest action appeared to be part of a pattern of serial litigation by Qualcomm.

“We believe this suit is also without merit. Nokia will actively defend itself to ensure the rights of the company are protected,” she said.