US patent holding company InterDigital said it had filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission against Nokia, Huawei and ZTE, alleging that the vendors have imported devices for sale in the US which infringe seven of its US patents. It has also filed a complaint in the US District Court of Delaware, claiming infringement of the same patents. Through the ITC action, InterDigital is seeking a bar on the import of products from the device makers including “wireless mobile phones, USB sticks, mobile hotspots, and tablets capable of operating with a 3G WCDMA or 3G cdma2000 system.” In a statement, Lawrence Shay, president of InterDigital’s patent holding subsidiaries, said: “The vast majority of our agreements have been reached without the need for litigation. However, despite having engaged in good faith efforts to license our patents to Nokia, Huawei and ZTE, we have not been able to reach an acceptable resolution.”

InterDigital is no stranger to the courts, for example having previously been involved in a number of separate cases involving Nokia and Samsung. The company has been in the spotlight recently, after stating that it will “evaluate potential strategic alternatives” going forward, as the value of patents has soared following the US$4.5 billion sale of Nortel Networks’ assets to a consortium including Apple, Ericsson, Microsoft and RIM. The value of InterDigital’s shares has increased by more than 50 percent since it made its strategy announcement.