Nokia v Apple may simply be preemptive strike to force MultTouch patent sharing deal

While many commentators think Apple may have a fight on its hands as it faces several patent infringement abuse lawsuits from Nokia, the game could turn out to be no more than corporate hardball - Apple’s lawyers may have a smattering of litigation to aim at the competing firm.

Apple has already said it intends defending itself “vigorously” against Nokia’s billion-dollar lawsuit.

Roll across to All Things D and you’ll see a report on these matters, with analysts from CCS Insight and Strategy Analytics predicting years-long courtroom battles on the one hand, while others anticipate Apple will launch its own lawsuit in response.

Apple may otherwise face paying Nokia hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for its alleged abuse.

Enter Maynard Um of UBS,  who says: “We believe Nokia’s suit could be a pre-emptive move ahead of its new handsets launching soon that may have multi-touch capabilities for which Apple has IP.”

He predicts the outcome won’t be one which sees Apple digging into its warchest and saying sorry, instead he expects an out-of-court deal and a series of technology licensing agreements.

Here’s an interesting video in which Nokia discusses its plans for an easy-to-use, multimedia-savvy erm, multitouch-enabled phone.