Countersues and claims Nokia has infringed 13 of its iPhone patents.
The gloves are well and truly off in the row over mobile technology patents between Nokia and Apple.
Nokia sued Apple in October for allegedly infringing ten of its patents with the iPhone, but now Apple has countersued, claiming that Nokia has infringed 13 of Apple's patents.
"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," said general counsel Bruce Sewell in a bullish statement.
Apple's filing makes for fascinating reading, claiming that Nokia sought to charge Apple "unwarranted fees" to use its industry-standard patents.
It also claims that Nokia's failure to compete with the iPhone is the real reason for its lawsuit.
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"In contrast, Nokia made a different business decision and remained focussed on traditional mobile wireless handsets with conventional user interfaces. As a result, Nokia has rapidly lost share in the market for high-end mobile phones. . . . In response, Nokia chose to copy the iPhone."
Such rhetoric doesn't rule out an out-of-court settlement, of course - both sides are presumably playing hardball in an effort to position themselves for an advantageous compromise at some point.
