IPCom orders HTC to stop selling 3G devices in Germany

IPCom, who had sued HTC back in 2009 and managed to get an injunction against them could end up banning the sales of HTC 3G devices in Germany, one of the largest smartphone markets in Europe. The German patent firm has ordered HTC to stop selling all of its 3G devices in Germany today after the Taiwanese phone maker withdrew its proposed appeal against the ban.

IPCom contacted HTC to remind it of a February 2009 ruling by the District Court of Mannheim regarding a patent relating to 3G technology, which puts a wide range of HTC devices at risk in the country.

HTC was found guilty of infringing on some of IPCom’s patents on UMTS 3G technology, the smartphone manufacturer tried to get the injunction suspended but the court declined to do so. Right now, HTC will either have to pay IPCom for using their patents or get their devices banned from selling in Germany.

A statement was posted on HTC website today, the company claims that there will be no impact on HTC’s sales in Germany:

On November 25, 2011, HTC withdrew its appeal in the IPCom EP1186189 case, finding that the appeal had become redundant since the German Federal Patent Court had previously held the relevant claim of the patent to be invalid. IPCom’s original injunction covered only one HTC handset, which is now no longer sold in Germany. Furthermore, HTC has modified its implementation of the UMTS standards, so even in the unlikely case that the Mannheim court reinstates an injunction, it will have no impact on HTC’s sales in Germany. HTC hereby clarifies that this does not have any impact on HTC business in Germany.

IPCom is a patent holding firm that acquired more than 1,000 patents. It acquired Bosch’s mobile telephony patent portfolio, created between the mid-1980s and 2007, which includes about 160 patent families worldwide, including some of the key patents in the wireless industry, such as patent 100, which standardises a cellphone’s first connection to a network.

[Source]- The Inquirer

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