Nokia released a press release this morning detailing their legal prospects of bringing Apple to court. Nokia claims that Apple is infringing on 10 of their patents in wireless sectors. All iPhone models (and possibly iTouch devices by extension) since 2007 infringe on patents covering GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA), and WiFi technologies. According to Nokia, the patents are currently successfully licensed by more than 40 companies, including industry-leading ones.

Apparently Apple has refused to agree to “appropriate” licensing terms, preferring to fight this one out in the courts. The Delaware Federal District court will get a chance to square this one away (in the coming years). Nokia is vague on specific patent applications, claiming that they cover “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption”. It is unknown if these are hardware or software patents, but it is likely a mix therein.

I doubt that Apple would throw caution at the wind and willfully infringe patents, but the problem likely lies in the negotiations for royalties. Either Nokia is demanding too much, or Apple is just being stubborn, perhaps hoping to get away with lower royalty demands through the American courts. A home lawsuit may carry bias to an American company, and Apple may be more likely to win regardless of implications. We’ll be following this case closely.