[JURIST] The UK Court of Appeal [official website] on Thursday found in favor of Finnish telecommunications company Nokia [corporate website] in its most recent patent suit against German intellectual property firm IPCom GmbH & Co [corporate website]. The ruling [text] invalidates two European patents held by IPCom, for which the company had sought substantial compensation from Nokia. In reaching its decision, the court described IPCom’s litigation tactics as an “abuse of process” designed to improperly prolong the proceedings. IPCom has had 13 additional patents nullified [Bloomberg report] as a result of four prior UK suits involving Nokia, and arguments between the companies pertaining to an unrelated divisional patent are scheduled for April.

In December, Nokia filed 13 patent infringement complaints [JURIST report] against Apple [corporate website] in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The complaints join 24 patent claims already filed by Nokia against Apple in US courts. In May, Nokia filed a complaint [JURIST report] in the US District Court in the Western District for Wisconsin [official website] alleging that Apple iPad and iPhone 3G products infringe on Nokia patents. Nokia also sued [JURIST report] Apple in October 2009 in the US District Court for the District of Delaware [official website] for allegedly violating 10 patents on wireless technology related to the iPhone.