Nokia sues Amazon, HP over ‘unauthorized use’ of video-related technology patents

On Tuesday, the Finnish telecom company, Nokia sued Amazon and HP of several patent infringements over video-related technologies. Nokia owns about 20,000 patent families—some of which the e-commerce giant and the computer-maker are allegedly using for free.

Cases have been filed against Amazon in the US, Germany, India, the UK, and the European Unified Patent Court. While the case against HP have been filed in the US.

As reported by Reuters, the lawsuit says Amazon and HP refused to take licenses to the patents enabling more efficient high-quality video streaming with lower bandwidth and data-storage requirements, and used Nokia’s technology, nonetheless.

Nokia’s chief licensing officer Arvin Patel says in a blog post that Amazon’s Prime Video, including Twitch and its streaming devices “infringe a mix of Nokia’s multimedia patents covering multiple technologies including video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and aspects related to hardware.”

Nokia said that certain patents are essential to international standards regarding video coding technology. And that the company had offered Amazon and HP licenses on fair terms, prior to the lawsuits.

Patel also highlighted that taking legal action was not their first choice. In fact, since 2017, they have extended over 250 licenses to companies including Apple and Samsung. The company had launch only six litigation campaigns since, according to Patel.

“We’ve been in discussions with each of Amazon and HP for a number of years, but sometimes litigation is the only way to respond to companies who choose not to play by the rules followed and respected by others,” said Patel.

“Our preference is to reach amicable agreements with the companies who rely upon our technology, and our door remains open for constructive, good-faith negotiations.”