BlackBerry to pay Nokia $137 million in payment dispute

Canadian software maker BlackBerry Ltd said on Friday that it would pay Nokia Corp $137 million, according to a ruling by the International Court of Arbitration.

BlackBerry said it plans to take a charge as a result of the ruling, but did not disclose when it would record it.

The Canadian company said the dispute was related to certain payments due under a patent license contract between the companies.

The dispute did not involve any allegations of intellectual property (IP) infringement and BlackBerry said it would continue to pursue separate patent infringement claims against Nokia.

Monetizing BlackBerry's IP is a key part of Chief Executive John Chen's plan for turning around the company whose revenues have declined for six straight years as sales of its once ubiquitous smartphones have tumbled.

Shares of the company were down 1.2 per cent at C$13.75 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.