Nokia and Apple are supposed to be duking it out in court over both infringing on each other's patents - but that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon.
According to Reuters, the duo will only actually get to present their cases to a packed courtroom (probably with a comedic, oddball lawyer if TV dramas are to be believed) by 2012.
This means that this litigation battle - unless settled in the intervening period - will be dragged over months and months, by which point the balance of power in the mobile world may have shifted even further.
What's it all about?
Engadget has a good description of what this is all about - basically, Nokia is required by the licensing groups to license out its patents to anyone who wants them 'on fair terms'.
However, under Nokia's interpretation of said 'fair terms' it wanted cross-licensing of Apple's touchscreen technology.
Hence now Apple is suing for breach of contract by not being fair as well as Nokia nabbing its touchscreen tech, and Nokia suing because Apple is using its tech without being licensed. And breathe.
Nokia has since moved to ask the court to dismiss Apple's contract dispute, claiming it clouds the issue unnecessarily.
Looks like this case will rumble on in a rather dull fashion - we'd like to suggest a cage fight instead, but we doubt that will ever happen. Or will it...?
