Nokia And Blackberry-Maker Agree Patent Truce

Nokia has settled all its patent disputes with Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) amid the costly legal rows still gripping the fiercely competitive smartphone industry.

While terms of the agreement were confidential, Nokia said, the deal on Wi-Fi technology licensing with RIM included a one-time payment and continuing fees.

The Finnish firm said the agreement settled all existing patent litigation between the two companies but it added that disputes with HTC Corp and ViewSonic still stood.

Its statement read: "Nokia has entered into a new patent licence agreement with RIM. The agreement will result in settlement of all existing patent litigation between the companies and withdrawal of pending actions in the US, UK and Canada related to a recent arbitration tribunal decision.

"The financial structure of the agreement includes a one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia."

Paul Melin, chief intellectual property officer at Nokia added: "We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM and reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect our unique product differentiation.

"This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

The development was announced just days after Samsung withdrew lawsuits which sought to ban the sale of Apple products in Europe.

While the firms' legal battles over patents were to continue, Samsung said it strongly believed companies should compete in the marketplace, not in court.

"Samsung remains committed to licensing our technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms," the South Korean company's statement said.

It was also confirmed on December 18 that Apple's efforts to ban the sale of several Samsung smartphone models in the US had been rejected by a judge.

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Banks Face Break-Up Over Risky Trading

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business and Economics Correspondent

British banks face break-up if they fail to follow new rules protecting high street operations from riskier trading.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has published a report assessing Government-backed legislation that will require lenders to protect customers' banking deposits from potential losses.

While the report suggests ring-fencing will help address the damage done to culture and standards in banking, it may not be enough to stop banks taking advantage of the rules.

Commission chairman Andrew Tyrie MP said: "The legislation needs to set out a reserve power for separation - the regulator needs to know he can use it.

"Over time, the ring-fence will be tested and challenged by the banks. Politicians, too, could succumb to lobbying from banks and others, adding to pressure to put holes in the ring-fence."

MPs are looking at ways to exert pressure on lenders that fail to comply.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls told Sky News: "I think people are really frustrated, families, businesses, that banking reform is taking so long.

"In the meantime, our economy has not been growing, small business lending is falling. We've got to get on with it and we've got to get it right.

"The commission says the proposals on the table so far from George Osborne don't go far enough, they've been watered down, and they also are going to look at the wider issues of standards and culture in the way our banks operate."

Next year, the commission will take further evidence on whether full separation of proprietary trading operations at banks is necessary.

The Government launched an inquiry into banking standards in the wake of revelations that the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) had been manipulated by traders.

Barclays and Swiss bank UBS have been fined by authorities for manipulating Libor.

The rate is a reference point for vast ranges of financial contracts around the world worth around £184trn.

Mr Tyrie said: "The latest revelations of collusion, corruption and market-rigging beggar belief.

"It is the clearest illustration yet that a great deal more needs to be done to restore standards in banking."

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UK Economic Growth Less Than Expected

Britain's growth figure for the third quarter has been revised to 0.9% by the Office for National Statistics.

That is down from their previous estimate of 1%.

Britain's dominant services sector posted meagre growth in October, adding to the challenge for the economy as a whole to expand in the last three months of 2012.

Third quarter GDP growth was the strongest since the third quarter of 2007, but much of that reflected a one-off boost from the London Olympics and a rebound from the second quarter when an extra public holiday dented output. 

Britain suffered its second recession since the financial crisis between late 2011 and mid-2012, and overall has recovered much more slowly since 2009 than most other big economies.

It also emerged that borrowing unexpectedly increased last month, putting more pressure on Chancellor George Osborne's plan to bring down the budget deficit.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions such as bank bailouts, was £17.5bn in November, up £1.2bn on the same month last year.

Economists had predicted borrowing would fall slightly to around £16bn.

Public sector borrowing for the year to date is £92.7bn, excluding a one-off £28bn boost from the transfer of the Royal Mail pension fund into Treasury ownership, which is 9.9% higher than the same period last year.

The latest figures will put more pressure on Chancellor George Osborne

James Knightley, analyst at ING Bank, said the borrowing figures highlighted the weak state of the UK economy and the fact that austerity measures were failing to generate the improvement in Government finances that were hoped for.

He said: "All in all, the UK appears to be ending 2012 not in particularly great shape, and as such we suspect the Bank of England has more work to do with further policy stimulus likely in early 2013, especially if the worst fears over the US fiscal cliff materialise."

The ONS said the latest figures do not take into account the transfer of assets from the Bank of England's money printing programme into the Treasury, and the auction of bandwidth for 4G mobile broadband services, which is expected to boost the finances.

In the Chancellor's Autumn Statement earlier this month, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said it expected borrowing to be £108bn in 2012/13, compared to £119.9bn in the March estimate.

The news will put further pressure on Britain's gold-plated AAA status.

All of the three main ratings agencies have now put the UK on negative watch.

Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "Although a number of temporary factors flattered the OBR's new forecast for borrowing this year, the underlying picture is that the weak economy is preventing the deficit from falling."

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BT Slapped With £95m Refund Bill

BT has been told it must repay almost £95m to corporate customers following a row over high speed data provision.

The regulator Ofcom ruled the company had overcharged for Ethernet services and must hand back £94.8m to communication providers BSkyB - the owner of Sky News - Talk Talk, Virgin Media, Verizon UK and Cable & Wireless.

Ethernet services are mainly used by businesses and provide dedicated broadband capacity between different locations.

Ofcom said it received the first complaint in 2010 that the charges levied by BT were "not cost orientated".

It had continued to receive related claims ahead of today's decision, the regulator stated.

BT, which said in November that its second quarter revenues had been hit by a triple whammy of recession, regulation and rain, has two months to decide if it will appeal the decision.

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Steve Jobs' £80m Super Yacht Impounded

A super yacht built for Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs has been impounded in Amsterdam because of a dispute over an unpaid bill to designer Philippe Starck, a lawyer has said.

Mr Jobs, who died last year, never got to use the vessel, called Venus.

But he had commissioned the French designer to work on the yacht, which cost more than 100m euros (£81.3m).

A lawyer representing Mr Starck's company Ubik told reporters his client had received 6m euros out of a 9m euro commission for his work on the minimalist vessel and was now seeking to recover the rest of what he was owed.

Steve Jobs died in October 2011 after making his name and fortune at Apple

The yacht was impounded on Wednesday evening, the lawyer said, and will remain in Amsterdam port pending payment by lawyers representing Mr Jobs' estate.

"The project has been going since 2007 and there had been a lot of detailed talk between Jobs and Starck," said the lawyer, Roelant Klaassen.

"These guys trusted each other, so there wasn't a very detailed contract."

The lawyer representing Mr Jobs' estate could not immediately be reached for comment.

The yacht is named after the Roman goddess of love

The 256ft (78-metre) vessel, built by shipbuilders Feadship, took to the water at the firm's yard in Aalsmeer, just south of Amsterdam, in October, a year after Mr Jobs' death.

According to Mr Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson, the vessel, which is made of exceptionally long aluminium panels, was just as Mr Jobs had imagined it.

The late Apple chief is believed to have given his input in a day-long discussion with Mr Starck.

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Fiscal Cliff: Republican Plan Ends In Failure

House Speaker John Boehner said on Friday that he was still open to talks with President Obama - a day after being forced to scrap a vote on his back-up plan to avoid the fiscal cliff crisis.

Mr Boehner had confidently predicted on Thursday that he would muster sufficient backing for his "Plan B" proposal which would have extended Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans except those earning less than $1m (£615k).

But conservatives in the House of Representatives, who saw the plan as a tax hike for the rich, revolted.

"We had a number of our members who didn't want to be perceived as raising taxes,' Mr Boehner told reporters.

The Speaker had been hoping to use the vote as leverage in his talks with Mr Obama, in a bid to avert the automatic year-end tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in on January 1.

On Friday, he again tried to shift the pressure for a deal to the President.

"We only run the House. The Democrats continue to run Washington," he said.

Even if it had succeeded in the House, the bill would have struggled in the Democrat-controlled Senate and the President would have then exercised his veto.

The White House said "Plan B" still offered big tax breaks to very wealthy Americans who do not need them.

President Obama wants higher taxes for the wealthiest

Mr Obama - who originally insisted on letting the tax cuts expire on households earning more than $250k (£154k) - has since upped that threshold to $400k (£246k) in an attempt to reach a compromise.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said a "bipartisan solution" was still possible.

"The President's main priority is to ensure that taxes don't go up on 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in just a few short days," he said.

Mr Obama "will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy," he added.

The White House insists the two sides are not that far apart.

Both the President and Speaker have shown a willingness to compromise, and risk angering supporters of their respective parties in the process. 

Mr Boehner has said he would be satisfied with a balanced $1trn in tax revenues and $1trn in spending cuts, much of it from entitlement programmes like Medicare health care for the elderly.

The President's plan offers $1.2trn in new tax revenues, with just under $1trn in spending cuts.

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BAE Systems Strikes £2.5bn Deal With Oman

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

A deal worth £2.5bn has been completed between British defence manufacturer BAE Systems and Oman.

It will see BAE provide the Gulf state with 12 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and eight Hawk training jets.

As well as supplying aircraft, BAE Systems will provide in-service support to the Royal Air Force of Oman's (RAFO) operational tasks.

Work to start building the aircraft will begin in 2014, with the first jets due for delivery in 2017.

But the markets did not seem too enthusiastic about the announcement, as the BAE share price was down 2% during the early hours of trading.

More importantly for the company's future financial health is the Salam deal for 72 Typhoon jets with Saudi Arabia, worth £4.5bn.

Earlier this week, BAE warned that its 2012 earnings would suffer if no agreement was reached on this deal by February 21.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on a trade mission to promote BAE and persuade the states to buy British-made defence equipment.

PM David Cameron visited Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE last month

It is unusual for a British prime minister to promote defence companies so openly but the Government is seeking to build closer ties with friendly Middle Eastern states in the face of what it sees as a growing threat in the region from countries like Iran.

The move also demonstrates an attempt to forge links outside of the traditional Nato countries.

The deal is not only important for BAE Systems but also for the companies that form the supply chain, many of which are based in the UK.

The deal will support BAE's assertion that it still has a strong business with a positive future after the proposed merger with EADS collapsed in October.

Cuts to defence budgets globally have resulted in a tougher and more competitive market, and BAE had hoped a merger with a company that specialises in civil aviation would lessen any effect of budget cuts.

Guy Griffiths, group managing director for BAE Systems' International business, said: "Receiving this contract is an honour and is excellent news for both BAE Systems and the Eurofighter Typhoon consortium.

"We look forward to working in partnership with Oman's Ministry of Defence, and the Royal Air Force of Oman, to ensure this is a highly successful programme that maximises the potential of both Hawk and Typhoon."

Oman becomes the seventh country in the world, and the second in the Middle East, to operate the Typhoon, joining the air forces of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "This is obviously a very good day for BAE Systems, its suppliers and the broader Eurofighter supply chain.

"We, and our partners in the Eurofighter consortium are pursuing a number of opportunities at present and I hope that the decision by Oman to join the Typhoon family is followed by more of its friends and neighbours."

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House Prices Predicted To Edge Down In 2013

House prices across the country fall by 1% during 2013 as the London market shows signs of cooling, property analysts have said.

Prices fell 0.1% month-on-month in December, marking the sixth month in a row that this has happened, and average prices ended the year 0.3% lower than a year ago, Hometrack said.

It predicts that a reluctance by struggling families to take on more debt will continue to act as a drag on the housing market next year and prices will be more volatile with continued low sales.

Hometrack's monthly figures for December show prices were flat in London and East Anglia, fell 0.1% in the Midlands, the South and Yorkshire and Humberside, dropped 0.2% in the North West and Wales and by 0.3% in the North East.

One in five postcodes in England and Wales recorded price increases over the past year but prices have fallen across two-thirds of the country.

London has had strong demand from wealthy overseas buyers and consistently outperforms other regions, seeing prices rise in seven out of 10 postcodes this year. Property prices are now 10% higher than at the peak of the market in 2007.

But price growth in London, vital to keeping average prices up in the rest of the country, is predicted to slow over next year, with a 2% annual increase pencilled in.

Central London price growth looks set to slow, following the introduction of a 7% stamp duty rate placed on homes worth over £2m in March.

The Office for National Statistics recently indicated that house price increases in London could be slowing. The rate of year-on-year price growth in the city dropped from 5.2% in September to 3.4% by October.

The study regularly asks estate agents across England and Wales about achievable selling prices.

But Hometrack's predictions jar with some other recent surveys, including one from Rightmove which said increased competition among mortgage lenders and a continued shortage of homes to choose from will help to push asking prices up by 2% across England and Wales next year.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has said it expects the housing market to "feel more stable and positive" next year, with much of the boost coming from a multibillion-pound Government scheme which has already helped to increase mortgage availability.

But the council has also said demand for mortgages could be held back by the weakness of the economy and much will hinge on the continued resilience of UK employment.

Halifax has said house prices are likely to be flat next year, with any growth likely to be strongest in London and the South East.

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Belgian Chocolate: Is Its Reputation Melting?

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Belgium's reputation as the world's chocolate capital could be melting as emerging markets develop a sweet tooth and the recession continues to bite.

The region became the base for the industry shortly after the Spanish explorer Cortes returned from Mexico with cocoa pods from Mexico in the 17th century.

Three hundred chocolate companies are based in Belgium, which have a combined turnover of nearly £2bn every year.

While the commodities analyst Mintel suggests the global market for chocolate has held steady in 2012 at roughly £52bn, the market in Western Europe shrank by 5%.

More worryingly for many of the Belgian craftsman, who buy their chocolate already ground and cooked before adding their own ingredients, processing has shifted away from factories in neighbouring Germany and the Netherlands.

Statistics from the European Cocoa Association show that processing in Europe fell by 17% over the summer.

It is not just the recession, the economic model is changing: demand for luxury chocolate is growing in emerging economies, but slowly shrinking in richer countries.

World record-breaking chocolate train

So it makes more economic sense for the larger companies to shift production to new markets where labour costs are low and the beans do not have to be shipped to Europe to be processed.

Since the recession, Belgian artisans have been mostly shielded from a dip in local demand by growing demand in eastern Europe and the so-called BRIC countries.

But there could be problems ahead when they have to pay more to buy processed chocolate from further afield.

There certainly is not an air of impending crisis.

We saw a giant chocolate sculpture of a hippopotamus draw gasps in Grand Sablon, the "quality street" where most of the famous chocolate houses have a flagship shop.

There was also the unveiling of the world's longest ever structure built purely from chocolate in the Gare du Midi near the railway platform where Eurostar trains rumble in from London.

The 34 metre long sculpture of a vintage steam train was checked by inspectors from the Guinness Book of World Records to ensure it was solid chocolate and not bulked out using cheaper ingredients.

The tourism minister Christos Doulkeridis told Sky News that he believed Belgium will keep its chocolate crown.

"We don't want to be the first one just in chocolate. We want to be the first one in chocolate of quality," he said.

The test will be whether the country can continue to maintain its reputation as a marque of quality in the teeth of foreign competition.

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Christmas Day Online Sales Surge Predicted

Bargain season begins in force today as online retailers slash prices ahead of an expected onslaught of consumers hitting the high street for the traditional Boxing Day sales.

Amazon's UK website said it had seen sales on Christmas Day increase by 263% over the last five years.

It expects this to be its busiest Christmas Day to date, partly due to the growth in home broadband and the popularity of tablets and smartphones.

The retailer is launching its Boxing Day deals a day early, which include clearance offers and "lightning deals" for a limited time and quantity of stock.

Shopping frenzies are moving from the high street to the internet

Trends seen on past Christmas Days on Amazon include an 11am rush for last minute gift cards, the spending of gift cards at midday and sofa surfing at 8.15pm.

Amazon's vice president of EU retail, Xavier Garambois, said: "The digital revolution has certainly played a part in this growth and Christmas Day is our biggest day of the year for MP3 and Kindle book downloads, as many people are buying content from new devices that they have just received.

"It's not just digital items though, we are seeing purchases of everything from baby products to women's clothing rapidly growing on Christmas Day.

"Many customers are shopping on Christmas Day in a way that has previously only been seen in the retail industry on Boxing Day."

According to MoneySupermarket.com, shoppers in the UK are set to spend a total of £2.9bn in the Boxing Day sales.

Furniture Village said visits to its website on Christmas Day last year peaked at 25,000 at 4pm, with that figure increasing to 50,000 on Boxing Day, suggesting that the majority of customers researched products online before buying from high street stores.

Chris Webster, a spokesman for technology analyst Capgemini, said: "Online tills will be ringing all the way from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, including a massive £300m spent on Christmas morning itself.

"Christmas Day will see a surge in online sales as new tablets and smartphones are put through their paces and vouchers are cashed in for virtual goods such as movies and music.

"This year we're as likely to be downloading Queen's Greatest Hits as watching the Queen's speech."

Meanwhile, high street spending was "acceptable but not exceptional" this festive period, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Head of media and campaigns Richard Dodd said poor accessibility on high streets, a lack of parking and weak consumer demand were to blame rather than an increase in online shopping.

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