“Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed,” stated Nokia chief legal officer Louise Pentland. The patents cover hardware capabilities including dual function antennas, multimode ratios, and power management. Software features include app stores, multitasking, conversational message display, data encryption, etc.

Nokia has about 10,000 patent families, making them one of the largest patent holders of all in the mobile industry.

Below is a statement from the company:

Nokia takes new steps to protect its innovations and intellectual property

Patent suits filed against HTC, RIM and Viewsonic in the US and Germany

Espoo, Finland – Nokia has filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC, RIM and Viewsonic infringe a number of Nokia patents.

“Nokia is a leader in many technologies needed for great mobile products,” said Louise Pentland, chief legal officer at Nokia. “We have already licensed our standards essential patents to more than 40 companies. Though we’d prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed.”

Nokia’s actions include a complaint to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) against HTC, suits against HTC and Viewsonic in the Federal District Court of Delaware, US, against HTC and RIM in the Regional Court in Dusseldorf, Germany and against all three companies in the Regional Courts in Mannheim and Munich, Germany. In total, 45 Nokia patents are in suit in one or more of the actions.

Nokia proprietary innovations protected by these patents are being used by the companies to enable hardware capabilities such as dual function antennas, power management and multimode radios, as well as to enhance software features including application stores, multitasking, navigation, conversational message display, dynamic menus, data encryption and retrieval of email attachments on a mobile device.

“Many of these inventions are fundamental to Nokia products,” Pentland concluded. “We’d rather that other companies respect our intellectual property and compete using their own innovations, but as these actions show, we will not tolerate the unauthorized use of our inventions.”

About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world.

During the last two decades, Nokia has invested over EUR 45 billion in research and development and built the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolio, with around 10,000 patent families. Nokia is a world leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications technologies, which is also demonstrated by Nokia’s strong patent position.

The ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro tablet has a 10-inch screen with 1024×600 resolution. It also has integrated 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, capacitive touchscreen, and 6 hour battery. You can dual-boot the ViewPad 10Pro on Windows 7 Pro or Google Android 2.2. [SlashGear]

The 10-inch dual-booting ViewSonic tablet uses an Intel processor and dual-boots the Android and Windows operating systems. This is the first device I have heard of where a Google and a Microsoft operating system will be dual-booting with each other.

[TechRadar]

[via Engadget]