A December decision against Qualcomm's
bid to keep some Nokia phones
out of the U.S. will stand, Nokia said Wednesday.

Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern of the U.S. International Trade Commission
made an initial determination in Nokia's favor on Dec. 12, in a case involving
alleged patent infringement. The ITC has decided it doesn't need to review that
decision, Nokia said in a statement.

Qualcomm will now decide whether to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to a statement from the chip maker
on Wednesday.

Qualcomm brought the ITC complaint against Nokia in June 2006, alleging patent
infringement in handsets that use GSM/GPRS/EDGE (Global System for Mobile Communications/General
Packet Radio Service/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution). The allegations
involved power control systems. As part of the suit, it asked the ITC to ban
importation of the phones.

In the Dec. 12 initial determination, an ITC judge found no infringement and
ruled one of Qualcomm's patents invalid, according to Nokia. Afterward, Qualcomm
said it planned to petition the ITC to review the finding. A final decision
had not been scheduled to occur until April 14.

In an ongoing legal battle that Nokia claims is connected to the expiration
of a cross-licensing agreement last year, Qualcomm has filed 11 patent infringement
suits against Nokia over the past few years, according to Nokia. In December,
Nokia Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said talks on the cross-licensing
agreement were continuing.

IDG News Service

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