Qualcomm patent ruled invalid in German Nokia case

By Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The German Federal Patent Court ruled on Wednesday that a Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) GSM patent asserted in a case against the world's top cell phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) was invalid.

The companies have been at legal loggerheads since failing to renew a technology license pact that expired on April 9, 2007.

Analysts estimate that Nokia pays around $500 million a year for the use of Qualcomm patents and it wants to reduce the sum.

Qualcomm says Nokia can continue to pay the same rate of almost 5 percent of phone prices, but Nokia says the rate should be less as it has now free license to Qualcomm's early patents, for which it paid $1 billion over 15 years.

"We absolutely dispute it," said Qualcomm Vice President Bill Davidson.

A key court case that could help solve the argument was due to start on Wednesday in the United States but was postponed for the day after a Delaware court official said the court was having "network problems."

Representatives of the companies at the court denied knowledge of any settlement of the case.

The Delaware court is to decide on the interpretation of standards-setting regulation and on the Nokia-Qualcomm cross-licensing deal.