NOKIA, THE world's largest mobile phone maker, and wireless chip supplier Qualcomm will go to court in the US tomorrow in hopes of resolving a licensing fight that involves hundreds of millions of dollars and has spawned lawsuits on three continents.

The case is based on a 1992 licensing agreement that allowed Nokia to use Qualcomm's patents in its phones. That licence expired in April 2007, after Nokia paid Qualcomm $1 billion in fees and considered it to be paid up.

But Qualcomm disagreed, and is asking the Delaware Court of Chancery to rule that Nokia extended that agreement by continuing to buy its products.

Nokia says the cross-licensing agreement can only be extended in writing. Nokia also maintains that Qualcomm failed to live up to obligations incurred when a standard setting body chose as the standard Qualcomm's patents for CDMA - a digital radio system that allows a cell-phone user to send voice, data and information such as a dialled telephone number between mobile telephones and cell sites.

"We are seeking to prevent Qualcomm from imposing on Nokia the licensing terms of an old agreement contrary to the terms of that agreement and based on a vague allegation of use of patents that have never been identified," said a Nokia spokeswoman. - (Reuters)