Nok Form F20
Our products and solutions include increasingly complex technology involving numerous new Nokia patented and other proprietary technologies, as well as some developed or licensed to us by certain third parties. As a consequence, evaluating the protection of the technologies we intend to use is more and more challenging, and we expect increasingly to face claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights. The use of increasingly complex technology may also result in increased licensing costs for us, restrictions on our ability to use certain technologies in our products and solution offerings, and/or costly and time-consuming litigation. Third parties may also commence actions seeking to establish the invalidity of intellectual property rights on which we depend.
Our products and solutions include increasingly complex technology involving numerous new Nokia patented and other proprietary technologies, as well as some developed or licensed to us by certain third parties. As the amount of such proprietary technologies needed for our products and solutions continues to increase, the number of parties claiming rights continues to increase and become more fragmented within individual products, and as the complexity of the technology and the overlap of product functionalities increases, the possibility of more infringement and related intellectual property claims against us also continues to increase. The holders of patents potentially relevant to our product and solution offerings may be unknown to us, or may otherwise make it difficult for us to acquire a license on commercially acceptable terms. There may also be technologies licensed to and relied on by us that are subject to infringement or other corresponding allegations or claims by others which could damage our ability to rely on such technologies. In addition, although we endeavor to ensure that companies that work with us possess appropriate intellectual property rights or licenses, we cannot fully avoid risks of intellectual property rights infringement created by suppliers of components and various layers in our products and solutions or by companies with which we work in cooperative research and development activities. Similarly, we and our customers may face claims of infringement in connection with our customers' use of our products and solutions. Finally, as all technology standards, including those used and relied on by us, include some intellectual property rights, we cannot fully avoid risks of a claim for infringement of such rights due to our reliance on such standards. We believe that the number of third parties declaring their intellectual property to be relevant to these standards is increasing, which may increase the likelihood that we will be subject to such claims in the future.
Any restrictions on our ability to sell our products and solutions due to expected or alleged infringements of third party intellectual property rights and any intellectual property rights claims, regardless of merit, could result in material losses of profits, costly litigation, the payment of damages and other compensation, the diversion of the attention of our personnel, product shipment delays or the need for us to develop non-infringing technology or to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. If we were unable to develop non-infringing technology, or if royalty or licensing agreements were not available on commercially acceptable terms, we could be precluded from making and selling the affected products and solutions. As new features are added to our products and solutions, we may need to acquire further licenses, including from new and
sometimes unidentified owners of intellectual property. The cumulative costs of obtaining any necessary licenses are difficult to predict and may over time have a negative effect on our operating results.
In addition, other companies may commence actions seeking to establish the invalidity of our intellectual property, for example, patent rights. In the event that one or more of our patents are challenged, a court may invalidate the patent or determine that the patent is not enforceable, which could harm our competitive position. If any of our key patents are invalidated, or if the scope of the claims in any of these patents is limited by a court decision, we could be prevented from licensing the invalidated or limited portion of our intellectual property rights. Even if such a patent challenge is not successful, it could be expensive and time consuming, divert management attention from our business and harm our reputation. Any diminution of the protection that our own intellectual property rights enjoy could cause us to lose some of the benefits of our investments in R&D, which may have a negative effect on our results of operations. See "Item 4.B Business Overview—Patents and Licenses" for a more detailed discussion of our intellectual property activities.
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