Mobile phone market sees Nokia look to block Blackberry sales

Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) has lost a contract dispute over the use of Nokia patents in a case which could halt sales of its BlackBerry phones if it does not reach a deal to pay royalties to the Finnish company.

Nokia says an earlier ruling means RIM is not allowed to produce devices that offer a common type of Wi-Fi connectivity until it agrees to pay licence fees, which means all current Blackberries would be affected.

Nokia, which is trying to boost its royalty income as its phone business slides, said it had filed cases in the United States, Britain and Canada to enforce the arbitrator's ruling.

Nokia's action comes two months after an arbitration ruling by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in Sweden.

The organisation had been asked to act as an arbitrator in a dispute over RIM's use of handsets and tablets featuring wireless active network (WLAN) connections to the internet.

RIM had argued that an earlier licensing deal with Nokia meant it should not have to pay a separate fee for the technologies. However, the tribunal disagreed.

RIM has itself sued others in the past over patents, including Motorola - before the handset division was bought by Google - and the instant message software Kik.

However, the timing of the clash with a big-player like Nokia could be particularly troubling as it comes less than three months before RIM plans to release its first Blackberry 10 handsets.

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