Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker by volume, on Thursday opened new fronts in Europe in its patent war with iPhone maker Apple, launching lawsuits in Germany and the Netherlands. The 13 new complaints for using Nokia's technology are part of an escalating battle between the two rivals in the smartphone arena that started more than a year ago when Nokia filed its first case in the United States.
Apple, which was not immediately available for comment, has also sued Nokia over patents in the United States and Britain. It remains engaged in patents rows with Motorola, HTC Corp and other mobile phone vendors using Google's Android operating system. Apple's iPhone and devices running on Android have carved out a large chunk of the lucrative and quickly expanding smartphone market, in large at the expense of Nokia, which has stuck mainly to its old workhorse Symbian software.
"Nokia is on its back foot and may see any potential legal fight as a way of striking back at Apple," said Neil Mawston, the head of wireless device strategies at the Strategy Analytics research group. "Patent fights are becoming an increasing part of the landscape with companies seeking any strategic advantage possible," he added.
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