Sony Ericsson says Nokia-Qualcomm row major issue

PARIS (Reuters) - Sony Ericsson (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects to see a major impact on the wireless industry from a bitter royalty battle between Nokia and Qualcomm, the head of the world's fourth largest cellphone maker said on Wednesday.

An important cross-licensing agreement over technology patents between U.S. chip firm Qualcomm (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the world's largest handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expired partly last month, and their ongoing battle is worrying investors and the industry on both sides of the Atlantic.

"My thinking is that it is going to have quite a big impact on the industry as a whole," Sony Ericsson's head Miles Flint said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris on Wednesday.

"If it was just a row between those two I think they might have settled it earlier. It goes quite deep," Flint said, but noted it was difficult to estimate the exact ways it would impact the sector.

The legal dispute between the two centers on Nokia's use of Qualcomm patents for 3G, a high-speed wireless technology, but it also has a bearing on Qualcomm's chips business, which according to Nokia uses many Nokia-patented technologies.

Telecom network gear maker Ericsson, which owns half of Sony Ericsson, has said it expects the two to reach agreement soon and before it hurts the whole industry.

The discussions over the agreement are continuing, Nokia said earlier this week.

"We continue to negotiate and continue to be desirous of a settlement," Nokia Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said earlier this week at the summit.