Amazon countersues Nokia in escalating cloud patent battle
E-commerce and cloud computing giant, Amazon, has filed a sweeping patent infringement lawsuit against Nokia, alleging the Finnish telecoms company has misappropriated Amazon’s cloud computing innovations.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware on July 30, 2024, comes less than a year after Nokia initiated its legal action against Amazon over video streaming technologies.
Amazon’s complaint accuses Nokia of infringing on 12 patents related to cloud computing and virtualization technologies. The Seattle-based tech behemoth claims that Nokia’s products, including its CloudBand Infrastructure Software and Nuage Networks Virtualized Services Platform, incorporate Amazon’s patented innovations without permission.
“It was Amazon that pioneered in the cloud, and now Nokia is using Amazon’s patented cloud innovations without permission,” the lawsuit states. Amazon is seeking unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent further alleged infringement.
This legal counteroffensive follows Nokia’s October 2023 announcement that it had commenced legal action against Amazon in multiple jurisdictions, including the US, Germany, India, the UK, and the European Unified Patent Court. Nokia’s suit alleged that Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service and devices infringed on Nokia’s video-related patents.
At the time, Arvin Patel, Nokia’s Chief Licensing Officer for new segments, stated, “Litigation is never our first choice. The vast majority of our patent licensing agreements are agreed upon amicably.” Patel emphasized that Nokia had been in discussions with Amazon for years, adding, “Sometimes litigation is the only way to respond to companies who choose not to play by the rules followed and respected by others.”
Amazon’s lawsuit paints a different picture, portraying Nokia as a company desperately pivoting to cloud technologies after losing ground in the mobile phone market. The complaint states, “To save the company, Nokia exited the mobile device business in 2014 — an act its board chairman referred to as a ‘moment of reinvention’ — and pivoted to the sale of 5G network infrastructure and associated services that it acquired from Alcatel-Lucent in 2016.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Nokia’s “new company strategy” involved leveraging Amazon’s innovative solutions, including its patented technology, to address issues faced by cloud service providers.
In response to Amazon’s lawsuit, a Nokia statement read: “We respect other companies’ intellectual property and expect others to do the same. We have just become aware of Amazon’s patent infringement claims in an action they have filed in the Delaware District Court. We will review these matters and defend ourselves vigorously in court.”
This legal battle highlights cloud computing technologies’ increasing importance and complexity in the modern tech landscape. Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched in 2006, has grown to become the world’s leading provider of cloud computing services used by companies large and small in 190 countries around the world. According to Amazon’s filing, over 90% of Fortune 100 companies and most Fortune 500 companies use AWS.
The patents at the centre of Amazon’s lawsuit cover a range of cloud computing technologies, including virtual networking infrastructure, virtual networking security, virtual networking performance, and distributed program execution and management.
See also: Amazon Web Services and Nokia team up for greater service provider cloud transition
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