Google Nexus 7 allegedly infringes on Nokia patents

3 Jul 2012

According to a report on The Inquirer, the new tablet computer from Google, the Nexus 7, infringes on some of Nokia’s patents. Luckily for Google, though, the Finnish phone manufacturer appears to be far less litigious than Apple.

The Nexus 7 tablet was unveiled at Google I/O, the company’s developer conference last week, sporting a 7-inch HD display, Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, 12-core GPU and front-facing camera, plus Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity, powered by Android’s latest flavour, Jelly Bean 4.1.

Priced at a reasonable US$199, the Nexus 7 is sure to be a popular gadget, but, before it really takes off, Google had best take care of an alleged patent infringement issue regarding the IEEE 8092.11 Wi-Fi standard.

Nokia owns a number of mobile device patents and more than 40 companies are licensees for its standard essential patents portfolio; however, The Inquirer reports neither Google nor Asus (the device’s manufacturer) have sought to license the technologies used for the Nexus 7.

Nokia is unlikely to sue Google and seek to ban the devices for this infringement, a spokesperson told The Inquirer. “Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a licence.”

Well, isn’t that good sportsmanship.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com