By JEFF BOUNDS
Dallas Business Journal

Nokia has settled a patent dispute with chipmaker Qualcomm covering various technical standards used in wireless devices, including cell phones.

Specific details of the 15-year agreement weren't disclosed, though the tech companies did reveal a few tidbits, including:

• Nokia will receive a license to use all Qualcomm patents in both Nokia mobile devices and in infrastructure equipment made by Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Nokia and the European tech conglomerate Siemens.

• Nokia has agreed not to use its patent "directly against" Qualcomm, allowing Qualcomm to use Nokia technology in its chip sets.

• Nokia will assign ownership of an undisclosed number of patents to Qualcomm, including ones central to three wireless-device technology standards.

• The companies will end all outstanding litigation between them.

• Finland's Nokia, whose U.S. headquarters is in Irving, Texas, will make an up-front payment of undisclosed size to San Diego-based Qualcomm, and ongoing royalty payments.

The two sides declined to discuss terms of the settlement beyond what they outlined in a news release. However, Qualcomm did say that the up-front payment would boost its 2008 financial outlook.

J.F. "Jim" Chester, a shareholder at Dallas law firm Cowles & Thompson who is not affiliated with the Nokia-Qualcomm spat, says that big patent battles like this one generally benefit one group: the lawyers.

"The market is getting sick of (these suits)," he says.