Nokia Faces Patent Infringement Lawsuit from Amazon in Delaware Federal Court
Amazon has filed a lawsuit against Nokia in Delaware federal court, accusing the Finnish telecom giant of violating twelve cloud computing patents owned by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The lawsuit, as reported by Reuters, alleges that Nokia has improperly utilized AWS technology to enhance its cloud services.
This legal battle unfolded less than a year after Nokia initiated its legal action against Amazon, claiming that the e-commerce titan had infringed on its video streaming services and associated devices patents. In a statement, Nokia asserted its intention to “review these matters and defend ourselves vigorously in court.”
Amazon’s lawsuit seeks a court order to halt the alleged infringement and demands an unspecified amount of monetary damages from Nokia. Amazon claims that Nokia has been using technology developed by AWS in the early 2000s without authorization.
“Amazon Web Services (AWS) has completely changed Internet communications and large-scale computation since its founding in 2006. Large-scale computing was mostly dependent on on-premise physical servers and software installs before AWS’s groundbreaking technology debut,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit continues to outline that in late 2020—nearly 15 years after AWS was launched—Nokia revealed a “new company strategy” centred on cloud computing, including establishing a “Cloud and Network Services” business division.
Amazon’s complaint targets Nokia’s CloudBand platform, alleging it infringes on patents related to configuring virtual machines, managing distributed application execution, and autoscaling resources used during program execution. Additionally, Amazon accuses Nokia’s Nuage Networks of infringing on patents connected to controlling communications in virtual networks and simulating real-world network equipment.
This legal action starkly contrasts Nokia’s recent strategic retreat from the cloud computing space, which began in June 2023 when the company discontinued most of its cloud offerings. Raghav Sahgal, head of Nokia’s cloud and network services business group, commented last month, “With the amount of spend that is going into the Red Hats and the hyperscalers and the resources, people, and talent, it was very, very clear to us that’s not going to be an area we will be able to compete in.”
Despite the lawsuit, it’s notable that Nokia remains an AWS cloud partner in Germany.
