Nokia loses patent claims against HTC Nokia has lost two key patent claims against HTC over phone technology after a German court dismissed them both, dealing a blow to the Finnish phonemaker's wishes to use its extensive patent portfolio to prop up profits. A panel of judges in the Mannheim Regional Court, led by Judge Andreas Voss, dismissed both cases, saying they were unconvinced by Nokia's allegations against the Taiwanese company, which itself is suffering from falling sales as its smartphones lose popularity. One patent related to using services offered through a telecommunication network to a terminal, which Nokia had alleged was infringed by HTC's distribution of the Google Play store on its phones. Google, which mandates that the Play store must appear on devices running its Android operating system, participated in the proceedings as a third party intervener. The second patent related to the design of lighting controls that allow smartphones to adjust the display brightness according to the amount of ambient light, which makes them easier to read in bright light and saves power in darker surroundings. HTC said it was delighted with today's decision and that it would prevent Nokia from extracting unwarranted licensing royalties from Android handset manufacturers. We are gratified that the court apparently shares HTC's view and that, given the positive ruling of non-infringement today, the Android platform is now safe from oppressive enforcement of this patent. Nokia can appeal against the decision and said it is likely to press ahead with 34 further patent assertions against HTC as part of an effort to get HTC to sign a licence agreement for its non-standard essential patents. According to HTC, the patent related to its use of Google Play, called the 120 patent, is Nokia's flagship patent. HTC believes the 120 patent is invalid and will continue with invalidity actions pending before the English Patents Court and German Federal Patents Court. We fully expect the patent to be revoked before any Nokia appeal proceedings take place. Nokia said it "respectfully disagrees with the court's decision" and was considering its options. HTC must respect our intellectual property and compete using its own innovations.