Reuters - InterDigital in settlement talks with Nokia

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InterDigital in settlement talks with Nokia

Monday, Mar 24, 2008 4:58PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology company InterDigital Inc <IDCC.O> said on Monday that it was in settlement talks with leading cell-phone maker Nokia <NOK1V.HE> over their patent disputes and that they had made substantial progress toward resolving the issues.

News of the talks sent InterDigital shares up 14 percent in midday Nasdaq trading.

Nokia spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong confirmed that the company was in talks with InterDigital, but would not comment further.

InterDigital also said it was appealing a March 20 court decision that ordered it to take part in arbitration to resolve the license dispute over high-speed wireless technologies.

InterDigital complained about Nokia at the U.S. International Trade Commission last year.

On February 13, Nokia asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to stop InterDigital from going ahead with the ITC case, arguing it had a license related to the patents asserted in the case, according to InterDigital.

The court also ordered InterDigital in its March 20 ruling to "cease participation" in the ITC investigation by April 11 and asked Nokia to post a bond of $500,000 by March 28, according to InterDigital.

As a result, InterDigital said it had filed a notice of appeal and said it hoped to be able to continue to participate in the investigation against Nokia.

InterDigital said that the court order had no effect on a similar complaint it made against Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS>, for which a hearing is scheduled to start on April 21.

InterDigital shares rose $2.73 to $22.19. Nokia's New York-listed <NOK.N> stock rose 4.8 percent to $30.73.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Dave Zimmerman and Lisa Von Ahn)