Nokia wins again in court
Nokia is happy. The tit-for-tat response from a Chinese smartphone manufacturer that Nokia imposed a sales ban on and thus expelled the company from Germany has failed.
Nokia is defending itself against a patent lawsuit by Oppo in Germany
In the past few months, Nokia has managed to force a total of four Chinese smartphone manufacturers to leave Germany. All do not want to pay license fees for patents from Nokia. Oppo had now tried to assert its own patent number EP 3 672 346 B1 before the Mannheim district court and to impose an infringement on Nokia. After a short time, the judges rejected this application. The Oppo patent was not infringed by Nokia products.
A spokesman for the company has sent us the following comment: “Nokia’s industry-leading patent portfolio is built on over €140 billion invested in research and development since 2000 and consists of around 20,000 patent families, including more than 5,500 patent families that have been declared essential for 5G. Nokia contributes its inventions to open standards in exchange for the right to license them on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Businesses can license and use these technologies without having to make significant investments in the standards themselves, fueling innovation and the development of new products and services for consumers.”
According to Nokia is such a rapid chamber judgment before the district court very unusual and only occurs when the facts are so clear that a judgment can be made immediately. This was also announced by the three judges immediately after the hearing. The verdict in the case lasted only 20 minutes, which is very clear.
We will probably no longer get such Oppo cell phones:
Oppo finally out?
Oppo left Germany with its smartphones for the time being after the sales ban was imposed. OnePlus phones are also affected. Vivo and Realme have also withdrawn. This means that all BBK Electronics brands have withdrawn from Germany. Whether there is still a way back depends on whether Oppo and Nokia still somehow come to an agreement.
Apple and Nokia have shown that this works. Both companies have renewed their patent agreement, so iPhones are not threatened with a sales ban in Germany. It remains to be seen whether BBK Electronics can manage this somehow.
