Nokia has now all but forced Realme out of the lucrative German smartphone market. This makes Realme the latest brand from the house of BBK Group to leave German market after VIVO and OPPO.
Realme has confirmed in its statement to NextPit that it will be restricting its business in Germany. It blamed “sales slowdown” for its decision pending Nokia lawsuit. But it clearly seems that it is on its way out of the German market just like its sister brands VIVO and OPPO.
OPPO and VIVO vs Nokia story so far:
This development comes after a German court found VIVO in infringement of Nokia patents and ruled in Nokia’s Favour. The ruling essentially prohibits sales of VIVO smartphones in Germany if they still use Nokia’s patented technology.
Interestingly VIVO had a patent-licensing deal with Nokia until 2021 but chose not to renew it. Nokia then sued VIVO in Germany leading to Mannheim Regional Court in Germany declaring Nokia victorious in the lawsuit.
VIVO has reportedly expressed its disappointment and may suspend its smartphone sales in Germany. It is planning to appeal the court’s decision and may even resume negotiations with Nokia. The bigger picture may be however worse for VIVO given how OPPO had to face the music in other markets too.
Nokia forced OPPO out of lucrative German smartphone market after scoring two consecutive Patent lawsuits. Same Mannheim Regional Court in Germany found OPPO in violation of Nokia’s SEPs which cover 4G and 5G technology. This win not only declared OPPO in the infringement of Nokia’s SEP Patents also prohibited it to sell its smartphones in Germany. Nokia then sued the infringing company OPPO in Australia and other markets.
Subsequently the London-based High Court of Justice found OPPO violating Nokia patent no. EP2981103. The patent in question has been verified as a SEP patent by this ruling. The High Court will hold a FRAND hearing next against OPPO. Nokia reportedly forced OPPO out of German market using the same patent violation lawsuit.
This judgment may well lead to ban of OPPO smartphone sales in the UK too. As per the report, further hearings will consider arguments from Nokia and OPPO. OPPO may be planning to appeal against this judgement in the UK even after facing injunction in Germany.
Nokia filed patent infringement complaints against OPPO in multiple markets across Europe and Asia in 2021. Nokia had secured a multi-year patent deal with OPPO in 2018 which expired in 2021.
In recent times Nokia has signed royalty-bearing licensing agreements with likes of Lenovo, Samsung, Xiaomi, Apple, LG, and Blackberry. You can check our full coverage of Nokia’s patent licensing news here.
