Nokia has licensed the patent portfolio of Wi-LAN Inc. ( Ottawa ), which includes some current and pending patents, for $15.2 million US. The license relates to patents for asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL) which are used for broadband internet connections. The technology is roughly valued at $35 million US. Some of the wireless and wire-line telecommunications patents, owned by Wi-LAN, include the Wi-Fi wireless, the CDMA and the WiMAX.

The copyright office of the Library of Congress in USA has granted six exemptions under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). The exemptions make it legal to break and remove software locks on phones, to increase their usability for any purpose with any carrier. Film studies professors are allowed, under the exemptions, to break the CSS protection to DVDs. The exemptions allow blind people to circumvent the DRM systems of electronic books and read them using speech tools. Any person can now safely crack the digital rights management on software, if the technology to read is not available. Under the exemptions, DRM technologies, on compact discs, can be tested for loopholes without liability.