When Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) reached a settlement in a patent infringement lawsuit charging RIM with infringing on Nokia intellectual property, no dollar value was specified in the announcement. Today, in a Form 6-K filing with the SEC, RIM says it paid Nokiaa €50 million (about $65 million) one-time payment in the third quarter of its 2013 fiscal year which ended in November.

That’s a far cry from one estimate that the one-time payment would total “several hundred million euros,” but RIM is also on the hook for annual payments of an unspecified amount for an unspecified number of years.

The annual royalty payment could be substantial. RIM has shipped about 9 million units in the first three quarters of 2012, so a total for the year of 12 million units is a reasonable guess. At a royalty rate of $2 per unit, that’s $24 million that RIM will pay to Nokia. At a royalty rate of $5 a unit, the payment would total $60 million. If the BlackBerry 10 is a huge success, the royalty payment could be even more, but a range of $24 to $60 million is within reason.

RIM’s shares, which had been up as much as 1.7% earlier today are now up about 0.3% at $11.79 in a 52-week range of $6.22 to $17.96.

Paul Ausick

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