The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia said on Monday the UK High Court had ruled in its favour in a patent dispute with IPCom, and it would now seek to recoup legal costs of the case from the German firm. "This is an important decision, as it is not possible to infringe an invalid patent," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said in a statement.

"Nokia is pleased with these results, having won all patent infringement cases between Nokia and IPCom that have come to judgement," he said. IPCom and Nokia have been fighting in several courts for the last three years over the patents and their validity.

In December a district court in Mannheim, Germany, decided to put on hold an IPCom request for injunctions to ban the sale and distribution of Nokia handsets in Germany, pending final decisions on the validity of the patents by the European Patent Office. The decisions are due in 2010.

Copyright Reuters, 2010