BlackBerry to pay Nokia $137 million in payment dispute

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December 1, 2017
BlackBerry loses payment dispute with Nokia, to pay $137 million
December 1, 2017
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(Reuters) – Canadian software maker BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO) (BB.N) said on Friday that it would pay Nokia Corp $137 million, according to a ruling by the International Court of Arbitration.

A banner for BlackBerry Ltd hangs to celebrate the company’s transfer trading to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 16, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

BlackBerry said it plans to take a charge as a result of the ruling, but did not disclose when it would record it.

The Canadian company said the dispute was related to certain payments due under a patent license contract between the companies.

The dispute did not involve any allegations of intellectual property (IP) infringement and BlackBerry said it would continue to pursue separate patent infringement claims against Nokia.

Monetizing BlackBerry’s IP is a key part of Chief Executive John Chen’s plan for turning around the company whose revenues have declined for six straight years as sales of its once ubiquitous smartphones have tumbled.

Shares of the company were down 1.2 percent at C$13.75 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Reporting by Ahmed Farhatha in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta

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