Nokia: Nexus 7 infringes our Wi-Fi patents

According to phone manufacturer Nokia, Google’s recently announced Nexus 7 tablet violates some of the Wi-Fi patents the company owns. The Finnish company says that Google and manufacturer Asus should license the patents.

This is evident from a statement that Nokia has given to the website The Inquirer. It would concern patents that are part of Nokia’s ‘standards essentials’ portfolio. According to Nokia, a total of more than 40 companies have licenses for those patents, including many smartphone and tablet manufacturers. Google and Asus, the two companies that jointly developed the Nexus 7, do not belong to that group.

It doesn’t seem like Nokia wants to take legal action at the moment; in the statement, the company says that Google and Asus simply need to license the patents used. When asked, Asus said it would not comment on Nokia’s statements.

It is the second time in a short time that Google has been accused of patent infringement with a Nexus device. At the end of last week, an American judge ruled that the Galaxy Nexus smartphone from Google and Samsung may no longer be sold for the time being. According to the judge, competitor Apple had made it plausible that the device infringes four of its patents.