Just a few days ago, HTC and Apple announced that they'd reached an agreement over a long-standing patent dispute, originating two and a half years ago when Apple filed suit against the Taiwanese manufacturer. With the ink barely dry on that paperwork, HTC is now facing another round of patent battles, this time against fellow Windows Phone OEM, Nokia.
HTC Windows Phone 8S (left) and render of unreleased Nokia Windows Phone (right)
Foss Patents reports that Nokia is suing HTC over a total of 32 patents in the US and Europe. The patents cover a range of technologies from "calendar-display apparatus, and associated method, for a mobile terminal" to "method of operating a navigation system using images" and "communication network terminal supporting a plurality of applications".
Four court hearings, including three full trials, have already been scheduled to hear Nokia's case against HTC before the end of the year.
Foss intellectual property analyst, Florian Mueller, believes that the Taiwanese manufacturer may have no recourse here: "Based on how both parties fared against Apple, it's easy to see that Nokia will win this and will most likely receive a higher per-unit royalty from HTC than Apple receives from HTC."
One analyst suggested this week that HTC's payments to Apple may amount to around $6-$8 USD per device.
Source: Foss Patents | via WPCentral
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