Nokia Backs Apple's Bid for Injunction on Samsung Products

Apple has received assistance in its efforts to get permanent injunctions against multiple Samsung from the unlikeliest of sources: Nokia.

According to Reuters, Nokia has filed a sealed brief with Judge Lucy Koh in the ongoing Apple Vs. Samsung court case in California. In the summary that accompanied the brief, Nokia attorney Keith Broyles from Alston & Bird argued that Judge Koh had made an error in her ruling when she said that Apple had to establish a “casual nexus” between its patented features and what Samsung had produced. Boyles went on to state that such a ruling “could cause wide-ranging damage to the United States patent protection landscape.”

Originally the deadline for any amicus fillings in the case was supposed to be Feb. 19, but Nokia had asked for a 14-day extension which was granted by the court.

This is an odd situation to say the least as Nokia had sued Apple back in 2009, but the companies settled that case in 2011 with iPhone maker paying the Finnish phone company an undisclosed amount of royalties. Despite the past conflict between the two companies, Boyles explained why this was important to Nokia by stating, “Nokia is thus both a significant patent owner that might seek an injunction to protect its patent rights, and a manufacturer in an industry in which patent owners routinely issue threats of injunctions for patent infringement.”

Samsung’s arguments in the case are not due for a couple of weeks, and then other firms will have the opportunity to file amicus briefs on its behalf.