Nokia Taps Alston Lobbyists to Help with Trade Agency

Nokia Inc. has called on a former U.S. senator and three of her colleagues at Alston & Bird in Washington to help it with the U.S. International Trade Commission, according to lobbying registration paperwork filed with Congress on Monday.

The Finnish cellphone maker has enlisted former Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), a special policy adviser at Alston, along with senior policy adviser Robert Holifield, counsel William Anaya and partner Robert Jones. Anaya is a co-leader of Alston's political law practice. Jones is the head of the firm's legislative and public policy group.

They are lobbying on unspecified policy matters concerning intellectual property rights cases before the ITC. The federal agency can order U.S. Customs and Border Protection to block infringing products from entering the United States.

Anaya declined to comment.

The ITC is familiar turf for Nokia, the manufacturer of Lumia smartphones. The agency currently is investigating a patent complaint InterDigital Communications Inc. filed in January against Nokia and other telecommunications companies. InterDigital alleges that Nokia, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. imported into the United States 3G and 4G wireless devices that infringe on as many as seven of its patents.

Nokia hasn't submitted to Congress a report on lobbying it may have done so far this year, according to congressional records. But the cellphone maker spent $570,000 on federal lobbying done by its own staffers last year. The company hasn't used outside lobbyists since Clark & Weinstock stopped advocating for it in 2008.