Daimler asks EU antitrust regulators to investigate Nokia patents

Daimler has complained to EU antitrust regulators about Nokia patents important to car communications, a move underlining the tensions between tech firms and the auto industry on the use of major technologies.

Tech companies and mobile telecoms providers are playing a significant role in the auto industry, with their technologies utilized in navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication and self-driving cars.

Daimler verified that it had filed a complaint with the European Commission against Nokia.

“We want clarification on how essential patents for telecommunications standards are to be licensed in the automotive industry,” the automaker stated on Saturday. “Fair and non-discriminatory access to these standards for all users of the essential patents for telecommunications standards is a key prerequisite for the development of new products and services for connected driving.”

The European Commission verified receipt of Daimler’s complaint.

Nokia stated Daimler was seeking to side-step taking out licenses.

“Though we offer a wide range of options for automakers, including through their tier 1 suppliers, Daimler has resisted taking a license to the Nokia inventions it is already using,” Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant stated.

“Daimler’s allegations in its complaint to the EU are simply the recent in a long series of actions to avoid taking a license,” he stated.

Nokia has a profitable patent business, a legacy of its history as the leader of mobile phone makers market.

Patent disputes between Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and others have caused mutual lawsuits globally in the last decade, with analysts stating the patent war could next move to the auto industry.