HTC's Android devices face ban in Germany after Nokia wins another injunction in court

HTC has been trying to put out some legal fires lately. But just when they think that they have one fire under control, another pops up. In the U.K., HTC has received a stay of injunction preventing Nokia from enforcing a sales ban it won in court against the HTC One mini. Actually, the Finnish based OEM won a sales ban against both the HTC One and the HTC One mini. The judge quickly stayed the ban against the HTC One so that HTC would not be handicapped by having its flagship model banned during the holiday season. 
 
Now, HTC has some new legal problems in Germany, where a judge has ruled that HTC infringed on a key USB patent owned by Nokia. As a result, the German court has issued an injunction against all of HTC's Android powered devices in the country. This could be a scare for all Android manufacturers although Google chose not to get involved in the case at this point.

HTC could devise a workaround for the patent, which helps PCs decide which driver to use when hooked up to a smartphone using the USB port. Obviously HTC would rather lose that feature over having all of its Android phones banned in Germany. There is another solution albeit not one that the Taiwan based manufacturer would find tasty. It could negotiate a license with Nokia. Eventually, other Android handset manufacturers will have to do the same or face the same consequences. As far as Windows Phone is concerned, the guys in Redmond have a license to use the patent based on terms of Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's Devices and Services business.

As for HTC's Android devices in Germany, Nokia can enforce the ruling on a provisional basis during the appeal process. But it would be required to post a 50 million EUR ($68 million USD) bond to cover potential sales lost by HTC during this period, just in case HTC wins at the appellate level. 

Things could get worse for HTC, believe it or not. Last week, the U.S. ITC announced that it would review a preliminary ruling that the company infringed on a pair of Nokia patents and this action could end up with a sales ban in the U.S. against HTC.


source: FOSSPatents via theunwired