Apple calls Nokia a patent troll and pulls Nokia subsidiary Withings products from Apple Stores

The fight between Apple and Nokia is turning ugly, which shows a major disagreement between the two companies over patents used in smartphones and tablets. Apple’s existing patent agreement with Nokia is about to lapse at the end of the year. As the deadline approached, Apple filed an antitrust case against Nokia, and Nokia responded with a patent infringement lawsuit . The legal battle sent Nokia shares tumbling . When Nokia announced that it had sued Apple, Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Patent Business at Nokia, said, “Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today’s mobile devices, including Apple products. After several years of negotiations trying to reach agreement to cover Apple’s use of these patents, we are now taking action to defend our rights.” In a statement to Recode, Apple said “We respect intellectual property and we’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights of patents covering technology in our products. Unfortunately, Nokia has refused to license their patents on a fair basis and is now using the tactics of a patent troll to attempt to extort money from Apple by applying a royalty rate to Apple’s own inventions they had nothing to do with.” [caption id=“attachment_354656” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The Withings Body Cardio Scale, one of the products pulled from Apple Stores. Image: Withings.[/caption] Apple has pulled Withings products from Apple stores . Withings is a company that makes digital health products including blood pressure monitors and fitness trackers. Nokia had acquired Withings in April 2016, for $191 million. Withings products such as the Body Cardio Scale, the Smart Body Analyzer, and a Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor are no longer available on Apple Stores or on the Apple web site, according to a report in Macrumours. [caption id=“attachment_223463” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Bose had sued Beats over noise cancellation patents.[/caption] This is not the first time Apple has resorted to removing the products of competition from Apple Stores. 9to5Mac points out that Apple had previously used similar tactics when Beats and Bose had disagreements over an exclusive NFL contract, and were involved in a patent spat . Bose and Beats agreed to settle the patent dispute for an undisclosed amount, and Bose products were re-introduced to the Apple Stores . After initially filing patent lawsuits in Germany and the US, Nokia expanded the patent litigation in Europe and Asia. Nokia is suing Apple in Finland, UK, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Hong Kong and Japan. There are 40 patents under suit now, across 11 countries.