ESPOO, FINLAND--(Marketwire - Dec 21, 2012) - RIM payments to Nokia settle all legal
actions between the companies
Nokia has entered into a new patent license agreement with
Research In Motion. The agreement will result in settlement of all existing
patent litigation between the companies and withdrawal of pending actions
in the
US, UK and Canada related to a recent arbitration tribunal decision.
The financial structure of the agreement includes a one-time payment and
on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia. The specific terms of the
agreement are
confidential.
"We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM
and
reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect
our
unique product differentiation," said Paul Melin, chief intellectual
property
officer at Nokia. "This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading
patent
portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the
mobile communications market."
During the last two decades, Nokia has invested approximately EUR 45
billion in
research and development and built the wireless industry's strongest and
broadest IPR portfolio, with around 10,000 patent families. Nokia is a
world
leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications
technologies, which is also demonstrated by Nokia's strong patent position.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that certain statements herein that are not historical
facts
are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those
regarding:
A) the expected plans and benefits of our partnership with Microsoft to
bring
together complementary assets and expertise to form a global mobile
ecosystem
for smartphones; B) the timing and expected benefits of our new strategies,
including expected operational and financial benefits and targets as well
as
changes in leadership and operational structure; C) the timing of the
deliveries
of our products and services; D) our ability to innovate, develop, execute
and
commercialize new technologies, products and services; E) expectations
regarding
market developments and structural changes; F) expectations and targets
regarding our industry volumes, market share, prices, net sales and margins
of
our products and services; G) expectations and targets regarding our
operational
priorities and results of operations; H) expectations and targets regarding
collaboration and partnering arrangements; I) the outcome of pending and
threatened litigation; J) expectations regarding the successful completion
of
restructurings, investments, acquisitions and divestments on a timely basis
and
our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in
connection
with any such restructurings, investments, acquisitions and divestments;
and K)
statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee,"
"target,"
"estimate," "designed," "aim", "plans," "intends," "will" or similar
expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions
and
beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they
involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from
the
results that we currently expect. Factors that could cause these
differences
include, but are not limited to: 1) our success in the smartphone market,
including our ability to introduce and bring to market quantities of
attractive,
competitively priced Nokia products that operate on the Windows Phone
operating
system that are positively differentiated from our competitors' products,
both
outside and within the Windows Phone ecosystem; 2) our ability to make
Nokia
products that operate on the Windows Phone operating system a competitive
choice
for consumers, and together with Microsoft, our success in encouraging and
supporting a competitive and profitable global ecosystem for Windows Phone
products that achieves sufficient scale, value and attractiveness to all
market
participants; 3) reduced demand for, and net sales of, Nokia products that
operate on the Windows Phone 7 operating system in anticipation and
availability
of Nokia products with the new Windows Phone 8 operating system; 4) the
difficulties we experience in having a competitive offering of Symbian
devices
and maintaining the economic viability of the Symbian smartphone platform
during
the transition to Windows Phone as our primary smartphone platform; 5) our
ability to effectively and timely implement planned changes to our
operational
structure, including the planned restructuring measures, and to
successfully
complete the planned investments, acquisitions and divestments in order to
improve our operating model and achieve targeted efficiencies and
reductions in
operating expenses as well as our ability to accurately estimate the
related
restructuring charges and restructuring related cash outflows; 6) our
future
sales performance, among other factors, may require us to recognize
allowances
related to excess component inventory, future purchase commitments and
inventory
write-offs in our Devices & Services business; 7) our ability to realize
a
return on our investment in next generation devices, platforms and user
experiences; 8) our ability to produce attractive and competitive devices
in our
Mobile Phones business unit including feature phones and devices with more
smartphone-like features such as full touch devices, in a timely and cost
efficient manner with differentiated hardware, software, localized services
and
applications; 9) the intensity of competition in the various markets where
we do
business and our ability to maintain or improve our market position or
respond
successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 10) our ability to
retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 11)
the
success of our Location & Commerce strategy, including our ability to
establish
a successful location-based platform, extend our location-based services
across
devices and operating systems, provide support for our Devices & Services
business and create new sources of revenue from our location-based services
and
commerce assets; 12) our actual performance in the short-term and long-term
could be materially different from our forecasts, which could impact future
estimates of recoverable value of our reporting units and may result in
impairment charges; 13) our success in collaboration and partnering
arrangements
with third parties, including Microsoft; 14) our ability to increase our
speed
of innovation, product development and execution to bring new innovative
and
competitive mobile products and location-based or other services to the
market
in a timely manner; 15) our dependence on the development of the mobile and
communications industry, including location-based and other services
industries,
in numerous diverse markets, as well as on general economic conditions
globally
and regionally; 16) our ability to protect numerous patented standardized
or
proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to
invalidate
the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 17) our ability to
maintain and leverage our traditional strengths in the mobile product
market if
we are unable to retain the loyalty of our mobile operator and distributor
customers and consumers as a result of the implementation of our strategies
or
other factors; 18) the success, financial condition and performance of our
suppliers, collaboration partners and customers; 19) our ability to manage
efficiently our manufacturing and logistics, as well as to ensure the
quality,
safety, security and timely delivery of our products and services; 20) our
ability to source sufficient amounts of fully functional quality
components,
sub-assemblies, software and services on a timely basis without
interruption and
on favorable terms; 21) our ability to manage our inventory and timely
adapt our
supply to meet changing demands for our products; 22) any actual or even
alleged
defects or other quality, safety and security issues in our products; 23)
the
impact of a cybersecurity breach or other factors leading to any actual or
alleged loss, improper disclosure or leakage of any personal or consumer
data
collected by us or our partners or subcontractors, made available to us or
stored in or through our products; 24) our ability to successfully manage
the
pricing of our products and costs related to our products and operations;
25)
exchange rate fluctuations, including, in particular, fluctuations between
the
euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen
and
the Chinese yuan, as well as certain other currencies; 26) our ability to
protect the technologies, which we or others develop or that we license,
from
claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights,
as
well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain
technologies in our products and services; 27) the impact of economic,
political, regulatory or other developments on our sales, manufacturing
facilities and assets located in emerging market countries; 28) the impact
of
changes in government policies, trade policies, laws or regulations where
our
assets are located and where we do business; 29) the potential complex tax
issues and obligations we may incur to pay additional taxes in the various
jurisdictions in which we do business and our actual or anticipated
performance,
among other factors, could result in allowances related to deferred tax
assets;
30) any disruption to information technology systems and networks that our
operations rely on; 31) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 32)
allegations of
possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base
stations and
mobile products and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; 33)
Nokia
Siemens Networks ability to implement its new strategy and restructuring
plan
effectively and in a timely manner to improve its overall competitiveness
and
profitability; 34) Nokia Siemens Networks' success in the
telecommunications
infrastructure services market and Nokia Siemens Networks' ability to
effectively and profitably adapt its business and operations in a timely
manner
to the increasingly diverse service needs of its customers; 35) Nokia
Siemens
Networks' ability to maintain or improve its market position or respond
successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 36) Nokia Siemens
Networks' liquidity and its ability to meet its working capital
requirements;
37) Nokia Siemens Networks' ability to timely introduce new competitive
products, services, upgrades and technologies; 38) Nokia Siemens Networks'
ability to execute successfully its strategy for the acquired Motorola
Solutions
wireless network infrastructure assets; 39) developments under large,
multi-year
contracts or in relation to major customers in the networks infrastructure
and
related services business; 40) the management of our customer financing
exposure, particularly in the networks infrastructure and related services
business; 41) whether ongoing or any additional governmental investigations
into
alleged violations of law by some former employees of Siemens may involve
and
affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to
Nokia
Siemens Networks; and 42) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer
relationships resulting from ongoing or any additional governmental
investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred
to
Nokia Siemens Networks, as well as the risk factors specified on pages
13-47 of
Nokia's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2011
under
Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or
underlying
assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results
to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does
not
undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise,
except to the extent legally required.
About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have
become an
integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than
1.3
billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access
information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia's
technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most
recognized in the world. For more information, visit
http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: NOKIA via Thomson Reuters ONE
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