Week 10 Blog 2 - Another Case Involving Nokia

I've discussed several cases in which Nokia has filed claims on other companies because of patent infringement, but I found another one. Android likely infringes on Nokia's patent #5,884,190, which according to the author of this article, is about "a method for making a data transmission connection from a computer to a mobile communication network for transmission of analog and/or digital signals." In other words, this patent is basically about the tethering feature on mobile phones, which allows sharing the Internet connection of the mobile phones with other devices such as laptops.
Nokia has already defeated Google and HTC for the proper legal interpretation of this patent, meaning that it would be very difficult for both of these companies to successfully defend themselves by denying use of this patent. Thus, the author suggests how unless Google and HTC are able to prove that this patent is invalid, an import ban on Android devices may happen.
I had no idea that Nokia (Symbian) had so many valuable patents. I mean, I know that they are a major telecommunications equipment company, but nowadays, the majority of mobile device users do not use their phones! But I guess that was different several years ago...
Also, this patent is only one of 40 patents Nokia has sued HTC on (I have a discussed several of those in my previous blogs). I am getting the idea that Nokia's patent portfolio is highly exceptional, and that they will continue to make a good number of assertions against companies on their patents.

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/android-likely-infringes-nokia-patent.html