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Don't mind if I do, says Nokia, taking a €1.7bn chomp out of Apple

'Substantial upfront cash payment' from licensing spat

Apple has handed over a cool €1.7bn (£1.5bn) cash payment to Nokia following an intellectual property dispute with the Finnish firm.

Speaking to analysts during Nokia's Q2 earnings call, CFO Kristian Pullola said Nokia had received a "substantial upfront cash payment of €1.7bn from Apple".

The biz will outline how it plans to open its newfound income "in conjunction with our Q3 earnings", he said.

The cash injection followed a short-lived patent squabble sparked in December last year when Nokia filed a set of lawsuits against Apple in the US and Germany.

Nokia said the fruity firm had declined to license patented inventions that it said were being used in many of Apple's products. The 32 patents included technologies such as "display, user interface, software, antenna, chipsets and video coding", Nokia said at the time.

Although Apple filed a counter-suit, accusing Nokia of "troll"-like behaviour, the pair buried the hatchet in May this year.

Nokia referred to this as being "a clear highlight" of its Q2 licensing business in its results, which it reported late last week (PDF).

Pullola said on the call with analysts that there were "multiple reasons to be pleased" with the deal – as well as the upfront lump sum, he said, licensing income "has increased significantly".

By reaching an agreement quickly, the company saved "considerable OpEx" and "should not see any Apple-related litigation costs in Q3, and going forward". It had previously expected the annualised run rate to reach €100m.

Pullola also said: "Instead of a simple patent licensing agreement, we have agreed on a more extensive business collaboration with Apple, providing potential for a meaningful uplift in our IP Routing, Optical Networks and Digital Health business units over time."

The pair had agreed that Apple would resume selling Nokia's digital health products, while hinting at "future collaboration in digital health initiatives".

Nokia's Q2 results set out part of its expansion to date, which includes new products like the BMI Wi-Fi Scale and Health Mate app.

Overall, the figures for the quarter ending June 30 show that Nokia's non-IFRS operating profit rose 73 per cent to €574m, while revenues fell to €5.63bn.

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