*

German court rules Amazon ( AMZN ) violating a patent owned by

Nokia

*

Amazon ( AMZN ) faces fines if it continues streaming in Germany

*

Follows a similar ruling in Munich last September

(Adds Nokia comment, background)

FRANKFURT, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Amazon's ( AMZN ) video

streaming services in Germany were thrown into doubt on Friday

when a German court ruled that the U.S. technology giant was

violating a patent owned by Finnish network equipment maker

Nokia.

The regional court in the western city of Duesseldorf said

it ruled that Amazon ( AMZN ) could no longer continue its streaming

services in its current technical form in the country, or else

face fines of 250,000 euros ($259,000) for "every case of

violation".

Nokia welcomed the court's decision and said it meant that

its patent covers streaming features such as Amazon Prime Video

"which now are subject to an injunction in Germany".

"...the innovation ecosystem breaks down if patent

holders are not fairly compensated for the use of their

technologies, as it becomes much harder for innovators to fund

the development of next generation technologies," Arvin Patel,

Nokia's chief licensing officer in charge of new segments, told

Reuters in an emailed statement.

Amazon ( AMZN ) was not immediately available for comment.

Last September, a regional court in Munich gave a

similar ruling in Nokia's favour, stating that Amazon's ( AMZN ) Fire TV

streaming devices infringed Nokia's patent.

Amazon ( AMZN ) said at the time that it disagreed with the Munich

court's decision and expected the situation to be resolved soon,

without being specific.

Amazon ( AMZN ) said it had worked with a number of companies to

license video patents.

"Nokia is demanding more than all those companies

combined and has rejected our offer, which was fair and in line

with market rates," Amazon ( AMZN ) said in an emailed statement to

Reuters at the time.

Weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche reported the Duesseldorf

ruling earlier on Friday.

($1 = 0.9637 euros)