Oppo and OnePlus are in the eye of the hurricane in Germany, as both companies stopped selling their products due to a patent lawsuit from Nokia.
The companies have stopped sales from their online stores, to department stores, however the phones that have already been marketed are not affected in any way.
Why did the sale stop?
Essentially, Nokia has been arguing for years that Oppo and OnePlus are using their proprietary 5G technology in their smartphones. Since the companies did not pay for these patents, the Swedish-based company has tried to argue in court that sales should be prohibited until this problem is resolved.
A German court has now sided with Nokia. This means that Oppo and OnePlus will have to pay Nokia for the use of their patents in order to legally sell phones in Germany. Rather, it could remove the technology from future phones to avoid paying.
In addition to this country, other nations could support Nokia now that Germany has set the precedent. If Oppo and OnePlus are forced to stop sales across Europe, they could find themselves in serious trouble.
In a press release issued to tech site The Verge, OnePlus communications director Spenser Blank confirmed that the company had halted sales in Germany and blamed “Nokia’s demand for an unreasonably high fee” for the patents as the reason for the lawsuit.
“We are actively working with the relevant parties to resolve the ongoing legal matter,” Blank said. “While sales and marketing of the relevant products are suspended, OnePlus remains committed to the German market and will continue our operations. In the meantime, OnePlus users in Germany can continue to enjoy our related products and services, such as regular software updates and our after-sales service as before.”
It should be noted that according to data from Counterpoint Research, Oppo represented only 5% of the total European market in the second quarter of 2022 (behind Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi) and OnePlus even less than this, 3.5%, so the measure does not It has become a relevant topic for many users.
