The war between Nokia and Apple has gone to another level now. The iPhone maker has filed a countersuit against the Finnish mobile maker claiming that the company is infringing 13 of its technology patents. The suit was filed today in the Federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.

In the short statement issued, Bruce Sewell, Apple’s General Counsel said, ”Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours.”

Earlier in October, Nokia had filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the iPhone maker had infringed 10 of its patents and asked for a compensation on usage with interest. Nokia had claimed that the technology used for the wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption in iPhone belong to Nokia.

Image Source: Cult of Mac

Nokia, the market leader mobile manufacturer has been facing tough competition from iPhone. The smartphone segment thats on a rise is dominated by Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry. Though Nokia rules the mobile market in the world, the sales in US has not been able to keep pace with the rest of the world.

For the first time ever, Apple has exceeded Nokia’s profit in United States. While Nokia’s third quarter operating profit stood at $1.1 billion, in the same period iPhone has generated a profit of $1.6 billion.

“Nokia’s profit margin for its handset division has been shrinking during the global economic downturn in 2009,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst with Strategy Analytics. “We believe the United States, where Nokia now trails Apple in market share, is the key to Nokia’s recovery in 2010.”

Nokia has been trying hard to fight the stiff competition its facing from iPhone ever since iPhone was launched. The most recent N900 is being called as the iPhone killer and hope it will help Nokia get its place back.

Image Source: BindApple