Tech: Apple paid Nokia $2 billion as part lawsuit settlement

SAN FRANCISCO: A After a patents row that escalated between Nokia and Apple in December last year and was settled in May, Nokia has received a $2 billion upfront cash payment from Cupertino-based tech company as part of the settlement terms. 

According to a report in TechCrunch on Friday, Nokia will not get $2 billion every quarter -- this was non-recurring catch-up revenue and Nokia hasn't said what it plans to do with all this cash. 

The spat began last year when the tech giants locked horns over patents, with Apple filing an anti-trust lawsuit against third-party companies Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs) that act on Nokia's behalf, and the Finland-based firm suing Apple directly. 

According to the Cupertino-based tech giant, Nokia was conspiring with PAEs patent assertion entities (Acacia Research and Conversant Property Management) in an "illegal patent transfer scheme" to wring money out of Apple because Nokia's cell phone business was failing. 

Nokia also filed a suit directly against Apple in Europe and the US, claiming the company was still infringing on Nokia patents. 

The lawsuit covered 32 patents, including display, user interface, software and video-coding technology. 

Amid the escalating patents row with Finnish smartphone maker Nokia, Apple had also pulled all products made by Withings -- a French company and now a Nokia subsidiary -- from Apple Stores, be it online or retail.