Android is plagued by patent infringement suits like no other mobile platform, but in terms of a dispute between two companies, Apple vs. Nokia is the most advanced patent conflict at this stage. It started in October 2009 with a suit by Nokia that provoked counterclaims by Apple, which resulted in another suit by Nokia, and counterclaims, and so forth -- simply put, big-time escalation. Recently the parties also started a series of suits in Europe.
On Monday I published a visualization of the current state of affairs as well as all the steps that led to this situation:
NokiaVsApple_10.12.23That PDF document, which you can download from Scribd.com, also contains detailed reference lists of all the asserted patents (numbers and titles), suits (venues, parties) and -- quite importantly -- the accused products. For example, the graphic below shows against which Apple products Nokia asserts which patents in the second of two Delaware suits:
I have previously created similar documents for Apple's disputes with Apple and Android device makers HTC and Motorola, and for Microsoft vs. Motorola. I also created a one-page overview of US International Trade Commission (ITC) investigations involving those players. You can find all those documents in this Scribd collection. For sharing the documents with others via Twitter, you may find the following Twitpics links useful:
Apple vs. Android
Microsoft vs. Motorola
Nokia vs. Apple
Overview of smartphone-related ITC investigations
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