There is an interesting item that has popped up on the internet. It seems that Nokia is concerned about Asus and Google’s new tablet, the Nexus 7. What makes this very interesting is the timing for Nokia coming forward and bringing this to light. According to a statement made by Nokia (and originally reported by The Inquirer) Nokia is not going so far as to file a law suit, but they do encourage both Asus and Google to get in touch… soon.The issue appears to be over Nokia’s standards essential 802.11 WiFi patent portfolio. They claim that neither Asus nor Google are properly licensed. As we have said before the way things are supposed to work is that a company that wants to license your standards essential patent should send you the request and offer for FRAND terms upfront. The company that owns the patent will usually accept them and the agreement begins. If Asus and or Google skipped this step then shame on them…
Where things get sticky is that it is possible that Asus is purchasing products from someone that can resell their licensing (much like AMD did with the EV6 and 7 Bus and other Alpha technology). If this is the case then Nokia might not have any grounds. It is also possible that since Pegatron is covered (Pegatron manufactures the Nexus 7) and since Asus owns a majority in the manufacturing company Nokia might not be able to do anything.
However, we do not think that Nokia is going to open up a new front while they are not doing so well financially though so we imagine they feel they do have grounds and it is a good enough feeling to warrant the friendly letter. What we find most interesting is the timing of this. We are sure that no one is missing the significance of the request at this stage of the game. Microsoft has just announced their surface tablet and it is set to launch in early November. With Google and Asus’ Nexus 7 hitting the market today it undermines the demand for Surface and pulls attention away from it.
Now if there is a chance that the Nexus 7 might have patent troubles… well you can probably figure that out from all of the happenings between Samsung, HTC and Apple. We wonder if Microsoft asked for a favor (say that in your best mobster voice) from Nokia to slow down some of the momentum of the Nexus 7. Microsoft themselves do not want to be too pushy here as Pegatron also makes the Surface. So to avoid any bad feelings they got Nokia to be the bad guy….
This one will be interesting to keep an eye on.
You can read the original article at The Inquirer
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