FACTBOX: Nokia, Qualcomm case in Delaware

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A key court case in a long-winding patent dispute between the world's top cell-phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and U.S. technology company Qualcomm (QCOM.O) starts in a Delaware court on Wednesday.

Nokia filed the case in August 2006, saying Qualcomm had breached its contract to license patents essential to key mobile technology standards on fair and reasonable terms.

The case is consolidated with Qualcomm's April 2007 arbitration filing, where the U.S. company asked to rule that Nokia's use of its patents after April 9, 2007, would mean Nokia extended the key cross-license agreement at old royalty rates.

In February 2008 the two companies agree to hold fire in patent cases until first rulings from Delaware.

THE 1992 AGREEMENT

In April 1992 the two companies signed a licensing agreement, which gave Nokia access to Qualcomm's CDMA patents. The contract was then extended in 2001 to also cover the network equipment.

In 15 years of the deal, Nokia says it paid $1 billion for Qualcomm's "early patents" and has now fully paid, royalty-free license to those.

NOKIA, OTHERS VS QUALCOMM IN EU

Nokia, Ericsson (ERICb.ST), Broadcom (BRCM.O), NEC, Panasonic and Texas Instruments (TXN.N) filed in October 2005, complaints with the European Commission alleging anti-competitive conduct by Qualcomm, including high royalty rates. In October 2007, the EU opened antitrust proceedings in the case. In May 2008 a top Commission official told Reuters the case was "ongoing and active."