Nokia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. said Wednesday they agreed to settle a high-stakes licensing dispute and end a bitter legal battle that has lasted nearly three years and spanned three continents.

The wireless industry heavyweights said the 15-year licensing deal gives Nokia rights to a wide portfolio of Qualcomm's patents. Nokia will pay Qualcomm an upfront sum and ongoing royalties, but the companies did not elaborate on the terms.

Nokia, the world's largest handset maker, said it will withdraw its antitrust complaint against Qualcomm at the European Commission. Nokia filed the complaint in October 2005 with five other companies, which led to a flurry of lawsuits between Qualcomm and its rivals and several regulatory probes into Qualcomm's licensing practices.

The two sides will drop all legal complaints against each other in the U.S., Europe and Asia, said Rick Simonson, Nokia's chief financial officer.

"This is one where saying this is an important is not an overstatement," he said in an interview. "It's a big relief for everybody."

The agreement, announced after markets closed, thrilled Qualcomm investors. The company's shares soared 18.7 percent, or $8.38, to $53.20 after hours. During regular trading, its shares rose 1.6 percent, or 72 cents, to $44.82 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

U.S. traded shares of Espoo, Finland-based Nokia shares fell 0.3 percent, or 7 cents, to $26.70 in regular-session trading on the New York Stock Exchange, then added 31 cents after hours.

The stakes were especially high for San Diego-based Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of chips for cell phones. It gets about two-thirds of its profits from licensing fees on its patents. Nearly all the rest of its profit comes from making chips.

Carriers and equipment makers will also be spared having to worry how legal uncertainties hanging over two influential companies might hamper their ability to deliver products and services, said Michael King, an analyst at technology researcher Gartner Inc.

"It's huge weight off everyone's shoulders," he said. "It was a game of brinksmanship. ... I think they both had to realize that continued litigation was only going to damage the entire industry."

The agreement was announced after a judge in Wilmington, Del., delayed the opening day of a trial to address the licensing fees and Nokia's complaint that Qualcomm has ignored its commitment to license its patents on fair terms.

A licensing agreement between the two companies expired in April 2007. The new pact covers a host of technologies that didn't exist or were in their infancies when the two companies signed their initial agreement in 1992 and renewed it in 2001.

Qualcomm delayed the release of its fiscal third-quarter results for several hours to first announce the agreement with Nokia. It reported its profits fell 6 percent to $748 million, or 45 cents a share, during the three-month period ended June 29, down from $798 million, or 47 cents a share, the same period last year. Revenue grew 19 percent to $2.76 billion from $2.33 billion.

Excluding per-share charges of 4 cents from its strategic investments unit and 6 cents for stock-based compensation, Qualcomm earned 55 cents a share during the latest period, matching the average estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Source: AP News