Following hot on the heels of its recent legal attack against Qualcomm, Nokia announced today that it has paid the wireless firm $20m for patent licences covering the second quarter of 2007.

Nokia and Qualcomm have had patent licence agreements since 1992 and Nokia's obligations to pay licence fees under the old agreements partially expire on 9 April 2007.

The mobile giant said that the payment announced today does not extend, and is not related to, the old agreement.

Rather, it is based on the licences that Qualcomm has agreed and provided through the European Telecommunication Standardisation Institute.

"As we continue to negotiate the new cross-licence agreement, Nokia views this payment as fair and reasonable compensation for the use of relevant Qualcomm essential patents in Nokia UMTS handsets during the second quarter of 2007," said Rick Simonson, chief financial officer at Nokia.

"Nokia believes that Qualcomm's patent portfolio is concentrated in the US, and that it has few or no alleged UMTS patents in many of the countries in which Nokia has substantial UMTS handset sales.

"When Qualcomm's early patents become paid-up and royalty-free on 9 April 2007 Qualcomm's share of all patents relevant to Nokia UMTS handsets will significantly decrease."

Nokia went on to say that it intends to make similar payments in the future and will announce such payments when they are made.

"It is important to note that, as of 9 April 2007, Qualcomm's entire chipset business becomes exposed to Nokia's extensive GSM, WCDMA and CDMA patent portfolios and Nokia will use all rights from those portfolios when defending itself against any new Qualcomm litigation," added Simonson.