Nokia, Motorola and others sued by Korea’s telecoms research institute for patent violation

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As if it wasn’t already involved in patent violation suits (with Apple, most recently), Nokia now has to deal with another complaint, this time coming from South Korea.

ETRI (South Korea’s state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) has filed patent suits not only against Nokia, but also against Motorola and other 20 mobile phone manufactures. One of the suits dates from August 2009 and was filed in California, USA.

The phone makers have allegedly violated seven of ETRI’s patents for 3G mobile telecommunications standards, including WCDMA.

The South Korean institute hopes to get about $268.09 million in royalties from the 22 phone makers. Two unnamed manufacturers have already agreed to pay 20 billion KRW ($17.88 million) to ETRI.

ETRI holds 170 patents for various international standards and has reportedly commercialized CDMA technology for the first time in the world, back in 1996.

Via Yonhap News