Nokia sue Apple in Europe for finger wiping gesture

Nokia and Apple have been in legal wranglings for many years now, and the latest advancement in the legal proceedings took place this week. Nokia have sued Apple in The Netherlands, Germany and the UK. They are alleging that Apple are using 13 of their patents without their permission.

Nokia's latest lawsuit will demand royalty payments from Apple – and if successful could cost Apple many millions of dollars, especially as sales figures of the recent iPhone 4 have been so high.

Paul Melin, Nokia vice president in charge of intellectual property said “The Nokia inventions protected by these patents include several which enable compelling user experiences.”

One of the most surprising claims is that Nokia claim the finger wiping gesture used to navigate the content on a cellphone touch screen is their design. They also say that the technology to enable access to the real time services of an applications store is also Nokia property. Apple are currently using these in the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.

Melin has said that Nokia have filed patents for both of these technologies over 10 years ago and that they are suing Apple in the High Court in London, district courts in Dusseldorf and Mannheim in Germany and the district court in The Hague.

The mobile phone industry is a hotbed of legal action in recent years as companies try to encroach on the profit margins of competitors by claiming intellectual copyright breaches.

KitGuru says: Apple have yet to comment on these claims.

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