Edible Apple

It sure is a good time to to be on Apple’s legal team. Not only is there the much publicized lawsuit against HTC, but you might also remember that Apple and Nokia are also in the throes of a potentially significant lawsuit.

Last October, Nokia sued Apple for patent infringement claiming that Apple’s iPhone infringed on a number of Nokia patents relating to wireless standards and network technologies. Apple, in turn, countersued Nokia alleging that the Finnish handset maker has been infringing on a number of Apple patents such as the iPhone UI.

Nokia then raised the stakes by lodging a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), an international governing body with the power to actually ban imports of a product. And that’s exactly what Nokia is asking the ITC to do. But Apple, ever the legal adversary, responded in kind and filed its own complaint with the ITC seeking an effective ban on all imports of Nokia smartphones.

So where does that leave us today?

Well, it was decided in a recent court filing obtained by Reuters that a trial date for the epic Apple v. Nokia showdown will take place in 2012, “raising the spectre of a prolonged legal struggle.”