Once a mobile-phone superpower, Nokia still has a potent weapon

Nokia has retained a catalogue of thousands of wireless communications patents

A good decade after Nokia Oyj’s mobile-phone business suffered a fatal blow at the hands of the iPhone, the Finnish company is still feeding off a lucrative asset that it salvaged from the wreckage.

Nokia retained a catalogue of thousands of wireless communications patents that is steadily growing thanks to a thriving research operation. Now an attempt to change how those patents are monetised has led Nokia into court with Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars.

A ruling a few weeks ago in Germany sided with Nokia, and more verdicts are pending later in September.

Modern automobiles are so brimming with electronic gadgetry