Apple trying to 'get a free ride' off Nokia

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has said that it is suing its US rival Apple for infringing patents on mobile phone technology for the iPhone.

Finland's Nokia said it had not been compensated for its technology and accused Apple of "trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation".

The ten alleged patent infringements involve wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and the breaches applied to all models of the iPhone since its launch in 2007 reports the BBC.

Nokia said that it had agreements with around 40 firms, including most mobile phone handset makers, allowing them to use the firm's technology but that Apple had not signed an agreement.

"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for," said Ilkka Rahnasto, vice president of Legal and Intellectual Property at Nokia.

"Apple is also expected to follow this principle."

He added that during the last two decades, Nokia had invested approximately €40 billion (NZ79bn) on research and development during the past two decades and has created "one of the strongest and broadest" patent portfolios in the industry.

One analyst said Nokia's suit was part of a growing trend of telecom equipment makers being more litigious, saying makers are increasingly searching for new revenue as wireless markets become saturated and sales begin to stagnate reports the New York Times.

"Where there is a hit, there is usually a writ," said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics in London.

"I think the intellectual property rights wars are ramping up in the handset industry now. This fits in fairly nicely with that trend."

Earlier this month, amid falling sales, Nokia posted its first quarterly loss in a decade.

Analysts said that the poor results had come partly as customers turned from Nokia models to the iPhone and RIM's Blackberry.

Meanwhile, Apple reported profits of $1.67bn (NZ2.2bn) in the three months to 26 September, partly due to a 7% growth in iPhone sales says the BBC.

After news Nokia would sue Apple broke, shares in the US company fell.