July 24 - 2:30am EDT   Hours before going to trial, both Nokia and Qualcomm have reached an all-encompassing settlement over a year-old patent feud between the two companies, which could save them hundreds of millions in legal fees and help Nokia focus its development efforts in an increasingly competitive landscape. While the details were not disclosed, the settlement includes an up-front payment by Finish handset maker Nokia and on-going royalties payable to US-based Qualcomm. In addition, Nokia has agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA. [full story]