Nokia appears to have won a long-running UMTS patent dispute with mobile technology developer InterDigital. The US International Trade Commission in Washington said it would let stand an agency judge’s August findings that Nokia didn’t infringe InterDigital patents for 3G technology. The four patents cover power control and high-speed data transmission. If a violation had been found, the agency could have banned US imports of phones from the world’s largest handset vendor.

“Nokia is delighted with this outcome,” the Finnish company said in a statement. “Not only did the Commission conclude that Nokia products do not infringe InterDigital’s patents, but it also withdrew the portion of the ALJ’s Initial Determination that had found the patents valid… Today’s result is consistent with a previous judgement in the United Kingdom.” InterDigital’s stock fell US$0.09 Friday to US$24.44 on the Nasdeq Stock Market, as the company’s CEO said in a statement that it is “considering a number of options in response to the Commission’s decision.” Bloomberg reports that InterDigital, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, had US$216.5 million in patent-licensing royalties last year. Royalties were US$142.1 million, or 98 percent of revenue, in the first half of 2009, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In January the company announced it had agreed a lucrative patent deal with Samsung over the same technology, worth US$400 million plus royalties for 3G product sales through 2012.