Nokia settles Wi-Fi patent disputes with RIM

IDG News Service - Nokia has signed a new patent license agreement with Research In Motion, which will end all existing patent litigation between the two companies.

RIM will make a one-time payment and on-going payments to Nokia, but the specific financial terms of the agreement are confidential, Nokia said in a statement on Friday.

The deal seems to have come together quickly.

In November, Nokia asked a California court to enforce an arbitration award that could have prevented RIM from selling products with wireless LAN capabilities until the companies agreed on patent royalty rates, according to documents obtained by IDG News Service.

Nokia said it was happy with the deal, and will look for other ways to make money from its patent portfolio in future. RIM declined to comment.

RIM reported falling unit sales for its fiscal third quarter on Thursday, further highlighting the importance of its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Both RIM and Nokia have an important year in front of them; Nokia needs to sell more smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform than it managed this year and RIM will have to turn BlackBerry 10 into a hit.

"Doing that is absolutely critical for their survival. If RIM and Nokia are going to continue to exist in their current forms they need their respective platforms to be a success," said Ben Wood , director of research at CCS Insight.