LG and Nokia announce agreement on smartphone patent license

Although Nokia isn’t making smartphones by itself anymore, it still has a gigantic patent portfolio waiting to be tapped into by another company in need. In what seems like a mutually beneficial agreement, Nokia has just announced that LG Electronics has agreed to license a certain number of royalty-bearing smartphone patents from the company. The Korean technology giant is apparently the latest out of upwards of 60 licensees that are taking advantage of Nokia’s 2G, 3G and 4G mobile communication technologies. LG is also the first major smartphone OEM to take part in the licensing program since Microsoft purchased Nokia’s Devices & Services business back in 2014.

Neither LG nor Nokia have given any financial details, but it seems as though both parties remain confident that each is receiving a fair trade. Ramzi Haidamus, President of Nokia Technologies, explains:

We are pleased to welcome LG Electronics to our licensing program. We’ve worked constructively with LG Electronics and agreed a mutually beneficial approach, including the use of independent arbitration to resolve any differences. This agreement sets the scene for further collaboration between our companies in future.

Other terms are remaining confidential for the time being, and the details of the royalty payments will be cleared up within a year or two.