Nokia sues Amazon and HP over patent infringement

Nokia is suing Amazon and HP – formerly known as Hewlett-Packard – for patent infringement on video-related technologies.

The Finnish telecoms giant said it was suing Jeff Bezos’ company in five jurisdictions worldwide including the US, Germany, India and the UK.

A case was also filed in the European Unified Patent Court – the European Union’s court dedicated to intellectual properties.

Separately, the company filed the case against HP in the US.

Despite Nokia having been “in discussions with Amazon and HP” for several years, “sometimes litigation is the only way to respond to companies who choose not to play by the rules followed and respected by others,” said Arvin Patel, Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer, in a statement.

The complaints relate to Amazon’s Prime Video service as well as devices that Nokia claims infringe its patents on “video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and aspects related to hardware,” according to the statement.

Nokia pointed out that the streaming market is expected to reach $300 billion (€282 billion) by 2027, denouncing “a mismatch between those who invested in developing the technologies that underpin streaming services and those who benefit the most”.

Nokia invested more than €140 billion in research and development since 2000, the company claimed in the statement. It concluded different licences with companies such as Apple or Samsung, emphasising that litigations were never the company’s first option.

“Our preference is to reach amicable agreements with the companies who rely upon our technology, and our door remains open for constructive, good-faith negotiations,” said Patel.

Contacted by AFP, Amazon refused to comment on an ongoing legal case.