Nokia under ITC investigation

In what may well be rehash of the heated intellectual property battle between Qualcomm and Broadcom, Nokia has found itself the target of a U.S. International Trade Commission investigation into the technology used in its 3G handsets.

Instead of Broadcom, Interdigital is the instigator, having filed a complaint with the ITC last month claiming Nokia’s UMTS handsets infringe on two of Interdigital’s patents involving efficiency techniques for radio transmission. And like Broadcom, Interdigital is asking the ITC to ban imports of Nokia 3G phones in the U.S.

Unlike Qualcomm, Nokia isn’t as dependent on the U.S. market, which is its third largest market in overall phone sales but accounts for few UMTS handset shipments. The only Nokia customer in the U.S. to have launched UMTS is AT&T, and that operator only sells one Nokia 3G phone, the N75. But Nokia has been nurturing an independent retail business spearheaded by its Nokia stores and Web site, all designed at getting its high-end Nseries and Eseries smart and multimedia phones directly into customers hands. Any ban on 3G devices would kill that small, but growing business.

It’s still unclear, though, if the patents in question involve all of Nokia’s 3G devices or only a portion of them. In the Qualcomm-Broadcom case, the chip ban involved a huge swathe of phones produced by numerous phone vendors, leading Qualcomm to claim that the ban would fundamentally impair wireless communications in the U.S. The full effect of the ban has yet to materialize, but its potential has scared some of Qualcomm’s end customers. Verizon Wireless has taken out its own licensing agreement with Broadcom in order to keep selling EV-DO devices bearing Qualcomm chips.

Nokia, however, probably won’t receive any sympathy from Qualcomm. Qualcomm is the target of Nokia’s own complaint before the ITC. The two have also been at each other throats in countless court battles over intellectual property.

The ITC said Wednesday it is launching an investigation into Nokia, which it hopes to conclude in the next 45 days.