Report: Core Patent Holdings By Nokia, Other Faded Telecoms, May Lead To Increased Litigation

They may be fading from consumers’ minds, but former telecommunications giants such as Nokia hold huge swaths of core technology patents, a new report shows. The companies are positioned to shift roles from manufacturers to so-called patent trolls, or patent assertion entities. Nokia this week announced a large, non-exclusive licensing deal with Microsoft.

“Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Alcatel-Lucent are among those who developed the building blocks of today’s wireless world. While the brands may have faded somewhat in the minds of consumers, they collectively control the majority of all patents in the 2G and 3G space,” iRunway, a technology consulting firm specializing in patent litigation and patent portfolio analysis, said in a release. “In fact, Nokia, LG and Qualcomm alone own more than 43 percent of all seminal (strong) patents. Nokia individually controls a remarkable 16 percent of seminal patents and 26 percent of all standard essential patents in this space.”

Animesh Kumar of iRunway said: “It is highly likely, given the increasing pressure on these companies to generate revenue, that many will become more aggressive by entering into new agreements with ‘patent privateers’ to monetize their assets. The result will be a measurable increase in litigation and licensing, and additional possible acquisitions.”

The iRunway report on the 2G and 3G patent landscape released today is available here.