iLounge

In response to a lawsuit brought against the company by Nokia for alleged iPhone-related patent infringements, Apple today filed a countersuit alleging that Nokia is infringing 13 of Apple’s patents. Surprisingly, Apple issued a terse press release regarding the countersuit, quoting Apple General Counsel and Senior Vice President Bruce Sewell as stating that “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours.”

In October, Nokia filed suit against Apple claiming that the iPhone infringed on Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN technologies covering wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption. Apple responded shortly thereafter that it intended to “defend the case vigorously,” indicating that it is defending more than 47 patent infringement cases, of which 27 were filed during the company’s fiscal 2009. Countersuits are often used in patent litigation as a means to achieve cross-licensing agreements and settlements without trials on the patents’ merits.

UPDATE: TechCrunch has provided some additional details regarding Apple’s lawsuit. Specifically, Apple is accusing Nokia of attempting a “patent hold-up” arguing that the patents in question are considered industry standards and Nokia is therefore expected to license them under fair and reasonable terms. Apple states in its countersuit that “Nokia has sought to gain an unjust competitive advantage over Apple by charging unwarranted fees to use patents that allegedly cover industry compatability standards.” The company further accuses Nokia of choosing to copy the iPhone as a response to its rapidly declining share of the high-end mobile phone market.