Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, took on the iconic iPhone on Thursday by suing US rival Apple for infringing 10 Nokia patents on mobile phone technology.

- The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007 - Nokia said in a statement.

Nokia said it had filed the complaint against Apple on Thursday with the Federal District Court in Delaware in the United States.

- By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia's intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation - Ilkka Rahnasto, deputy head of Nokia's legal department, said in the statement.

The company stressed that it had spent 40 billion euros (60 billion dollars) in research and development over the past two decades.

- The ten patents in suit relate to technologies fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards - Nokia said.

Nokia earlier this month posted its first quarterly loss in a decade amid falling sales. Analysts said the poor results were partly due to the growing popularity of Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry over Nokia models.