June 27, 2012 – On June 20th, an ITC judge denied Nokia’s motion to terminate the ITC investigation brought by InterDigital [NPE].  Nokia based the motion on InterDigital’s participation in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and corresponding obligation to license the patents asserted against Nokia on FRAND terms.  Nokia argued that due to this obligation, the case did not belong in the ITC as InterDigital is only entitled to, “FRAND compensation for use of its patents, and cannot exclude Nokia from practicing the patents. . . and Nokia has repeatedly stated that it is willing to take a license, and that the only dispute between the parties is over the FRAND terms.”  The judge denied the motion stating, “The extent of lnterDigital’s obligations to ETSI is disputed, and the effect, if any, of those obligations on InterDigital’s ability to maintain litigation in Europe or the United States remains unclear.  Even assuming that InterDigital is obligated, through an agreement with ETSI, to extend FRAND licenses to the asserted patents, Nokia has not cited any case in which a section 337 remedy was foreclosed due to the existence of FRAND obligations; nor has Nokia relied on any court case in which an injunction was denied or set aside due to the existence of FRAND obligations.”