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"Nokia and Apple are in the middle of an intense patent war. Apple's latest counterstrike is a complaint filed with the International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking to block U.S. imports of Nokia mobile devices. This comes on the heels of Nokia's own complaint seeking to ban imports of iPhones, iPods and MacBooks.\n\nBloomberg reports that Apple's efforts to block the import of Nokia devices are tied to yet another patent infringement complaint, and that notice of the complaint appeared yesterday on the ITC's website.\nThe suit, countersuit back-and-forth between Nokia and Apple began in late October of 2009 with Nokia's original lawsuit, filed in a Delaware District Court, against Apple for wireless technology patent infringement. Apple, of course, filed a countersuit. Then in December Nokia continued on the warpath with a complaint to the ITC and followed that up with a second complaint requesting the ITC block imports of Apple products.\nGiven that Apple's mobile marketshare continues to grow while Nokia's is declining, we can certainly understand why Nokia would feel threatened enough to take action, and why Apple would be compelled to respond. Both companies are facing harsh penalties that could severely affect their bottom lines and stock prices.\nIn a statement made via text message, Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said: \u201CNokia will study the complaint when it is received and continue to defend itself vigorously ... However this does not alter the fact that Apple has failed to agree appropriate terms for using Nokia technology and has been seeking a free ride on Nokia\u2019s innovation since it shipped the first iPhone in 2007.\u201D\nBloomberg also writes that:\n\n\"The ITC is a government agency whose job is to protect the U.S. market from unfair trade practices, including patent infringement. If it agrees to consider Apple\u2019s complaint, it could complete the investigation in about 15 months. A copy of the Apple complaint wasn\u2019t immediately available.\nThe agency hasn\u2019t yet agreed to investigate the complaint filed Dec. 29 by Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, although the ITC typically grants such requests.\"\n\nSomething tells us that we haven't seen the end of this mobile m\u00EAl\u00E9e.\n[via Engadget]image courtesy of DNY59, iStockphoto"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/01/16/apple-itc-complaint/>