Nokia and Amazon sign agreement settling global patent dispute

The settlement resolves all patent litigation between the parties across all jurisdictions, including proceedings in Germany, at the UPC and the ITC. The terms of the agreement, including financial details, remain confidential. “We are pleased to have reached agreement on the use of Nokia’s video technologies in Amazon’s streaming services and devices,” said Arvin Patel, chief licensing officer new segments at Nokia.

Nokia develops video and multimedia technologies, including video compression, content delivery, content recommendation and hardware-related aspects. In October 2023, the Finnish company filed patent suits against Amazon in the US, Germany, India, the UK and at the UPC. Nokia alleged the US company infringed its patents with its video streaming service Amazon Prime.

Amazon losses in Germany and US

At the UPC, Nokia filed its first lawsuit at the Munich local division (case ID: UPC_CFI_399/2023). The court had not yet ruled on the merits. The Finnish company also sued Amazon in the UK High Court over three patents. In Germany, Amazon faced two lawsuits at the Düsseldorf Regional Court, and one lawsuit each at the Mannheim and Munich regional courts.

In September 2024, Munich Regional Court ruled that Amazon had infringed Nokia’s patented video-related technologies with its streaming devices, such as the Fire Stick. Sales of Amazon’s streaming devices in Germany were suspended from 7 October.

In December 2024, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found four of Nokia’s video-related patents valid and infringed by Amazon. Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliott recommended an exclusion order halting the import of Amazon’s infringing products into the US. In a second initial determination issued in late January, the ITC also found in Nokia’s favour.

In February 2025, the Düsseldorf Regional Court ruled that the Amazon Prime Video streaming service infringes one of Nokia’s patents (EP 2 271 048) and granted Nokia an injunction. The patent covers an implementation method for provisioning multimedia services to rendering devices from communication devices via servers. This covers streaming features such as Amazon Prime Video’s casting functionality.

New UK representatives

This marked the first ruling and injunction against Amazon’s streaming service. The previous Munich decision and ITC initial determinations concerned Amazon’s streaming devices. The judges ordered Amazon to cease and desist from using the infringing technology in their video software and devices. They also ordered Amazon to provide information about usage since 1 January 2023. Furthermore, the court ruled Amazon must compensate Nokia for damages incurred and to be incurred from the infringement. To enforce the ruling, Nokia had to provide a security of €646.75 million.

However, regarding EP 2 130 150, the court dismissed the infringement claim.

In the German proceedings and at the UPC’s Munich local division, Nokia relied on an Arnold Ruess team led by name partner Bernhard Arnold. Partners and patent attorneys Christoph Walke, Matthias Waters, Fabian Vogelbruch and Martin Rütten as well as Lars Grannemann of IP firm Cohausz & Florack provided technical support. The teams worked closely with Armin Schwitulla, senior litigation counsel and Huw Edwards, director head of litigation operations at Nokia.

In the UK proceedings Nokia relied for the first time on a London-based team from EIP.

Hogan Lovells represented Amazon before the German courts and the UPC, where Munich-based partners Steffen Steininger and Benjamin Schröer led proceedings. The mixed team also included patent attorneys from the firm. A London team from Hogan Lovells handled the UK High Court action.