Once a handset superpower, Nokia still commands a potent weapon

Nokia retained a catalogue of thousands of wireless communications patents that is steadily growing thanks to a thriving research operation. Now an attempt to change how those patents are monetised has led Nokia into court with Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars. — AFP

A good decade after Nokia Oyj’s mobile-phone business suffered a fatal blow at the hands of the iPhone, the Finnish company is still feeding off a lucrative asset that it salvaged from the wreckage.

Nokia retained a catalogue of thousands of wireless communications patents that is steadily growing thanks to a thriving research operation. Now an attempt to change how those patents are monetised has led Nokia into court with Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars.