... and Interdigital wins.
Nokia's press release on the issue is rather gung-ho, and quotes a Nokia Vice-President saying that "This case demonstrates that legal disputes are sometimes necessary in order to lower unrealistic demands," but we're not so sure why this is the case.
It might be that InterDigital was asking for much more previously, but the payment of USD 253 million (due today) is almost exactly what two separate tribunals awarded to Interdigital. As previously stated, this is not altogether surprising, as even at that stage two independent third parties had decided in favour of InterDigital.
What's worrying is the bland assertion in Interdigital's press release that "Nokia's sales of 3G products after April 26, 2006 will be unlicensed."
To what extent, and of what nature these licences are is not known (at least to me), but given that 3G is apparently the future, if critical patents are involved this simply bodes well for InterDigital investors.
Nokia's share price seems unaffected; on the NYSE the stock is up 0.31%.
