Nokia settles patent dispute with Apple

Tech firms Apple and Nokia have come to a settlement agreement regarding a patent dispute, and have signed a deal to work together on a pair of new projects.

Nokia's share price rose to its highest level in the last three years after news emerged it had agreed to settle the case with Apple.

The Swedish company took Apple to court in December on claims that the iPhone maker had breached 32 patents in the production of its smartphones, pertaining to displays, user interfaces and video encoding.

While financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, Apple will now be able to use the technology in question in exchange for a series of payments to Nokia.

Nokia's share price rose to its highest level in the last three years

"This is a meaningful agreement between Nokia and Apple," said Maria Varsellona, Chief Legal Officer at Nokia, responsible for Nokia’s patent licensing business. "It moves our relationship with Apple from being adversaries in court to business partners working for the benefit of our customers."

The companies also announced that they would hold regular summits in order to cooperate on the so-called "network infrastructure" products.

"We are pleased with this resolution of our dispute and we look forward to expanding our business relationship with Nokia," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer.

Apple shares were trading 0.61% higher at $153.99 as of 15:10 BST on Tuesday.