Finnish handset giant Nokia has won a patent dispute with Research in Motion (RIM) which could possibly result into a ban on BlackBerry phones.

Nokia said on Wednesday a Swedish arbitrator had ruled that RIM was in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products without first agreeing royalties with Nokia.

"This could have a significant financial impact, as all BlackBerry devices support WLAN, although the volumes are currently very low in these countries," IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said.

Nokia said it had filed cases in the United States, Britain and Canada to enforce the arbitrator's ruling.

Nokia said it signed a cross-license agreement with RIM covering standards-essential cellular patents in 2003, a deal that was amended in 2008. RIM on the other hand sought arbitration in March 2011 with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, arguing the license should be extended to cover WLAN patents.

Nokia which along with Ericsson and Qualcomm, is among the leading patent holders in the wireless industry generate annual revenue of about 500 million euros ($646 million) through patent royalties.

"The timing could not be worse for RIM," Guardian quoted Florian Mueller, author of the Foss Patents blog as saying. "The new version of their platform is going to bring them back to life and they would like to focus on their turnaround and not this patent lawsuit."