Nokia May Appeal Patent Decision

Nokia indicated on Tuesday it might contest a ruling by a court of arbitration over alleged infringement of the patents of U.S. company InterDigital. InterDigital says that the court ruling means that Nokia would need to pay the company as much as $252 million in royalty payments.

These payments would cover technology used within Nokia phones during the period from 2002 to 2006. The actual size of the payment that Nokia is to make to InterDigital was not specified by either company.

The decision by the court was not unanimous, as one arbitrator disagreed with the final outcome. However, the amount settled on by the arbitrators was cut by more than half, and the Finnish company expressed support for the decision, calling InterDigital's initial demands "unwarranted."

"At the same time, Nokia must give due consideration to the issues regarding the enforceability of the decision and will consider the option of moving to vacate or modify the majority decision in this matter," Nokia said in a statement.

This is not InterDigital's only case against a mobile phone manufacturer. The company also has an outstanding case with Samsung, whom it says it is owed money from. That case would go into arbitration in October of this year.