Vivo Suspends The Sale of Mobile Phones in The German Market: It Lost The Patent Case With Nokia And Will Continue to Appeal

June 7, 2023
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On June 7th, Gizcoupon reported that in April of this year, the Mannheim District Court in Germany ruled in favor of Nokia in a patent case against Vivo. The Vivo patent case involved essential patents for the 4G standards (SEP) of Nokia. In response, the official website of Vivo stated their preparedness to temporarily halt the sales and promotion of the products in question through the official channels of Vivo in Germany.

According to the latest update on the Vivo German website as of May 30th (Beijing time), Vivo has decided to temporarily suspend the sale of its products in the German market.

The announcement on the Vivo German website is as follows:

Vivo fully respects intellectual property rights and is committed to continuous innovation through extensive research and development. In recent years, Vivo has signed cross-license agreements with numerous leading companies. We have been negotiating with Nokia regarding the renewal of mutual licenses, but so far, an agreement has yet to be reached. We firmly believe that Nokia has yet to fulfill its obligations to provide licenses under “FRAND” (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) terms.

We are disappointed with the initial judgment of the Mannheim Regional Court on April 6th, 2023. Following Nokia’s enforcement of these judgments, we have suspended the sales and marketing of the related products in Germany.

We have appealed these decisions and will review other options. In the meantime, we will keep communicating with Nokia to finish the licensing negotiations following the FRAND terms.

Our long-term commitment to the German market remains unchanged. Users can rely on customer support and future software updates for their devices. There is no impact on our operations outside of Germany.

Gizcoupon checked the official website of vivo Germany and found that vivo has removed all product introductions from the shelves. However, the homepage and support pages remain.

It is worth noting that in July of last year, the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ruled that OPPO had infringed a patent for Nokia and granted Nokia an injunction against OPPO. As a result, OPPO and OnePlus devices were banned from being sold in Germany.

In response to this, an OPPO spokesperson stated that OPPO would temporarily suspend the sales of some products in Germany. They also expressed firm opposition to exorbitant patent fees and malicious practices that use litigation to coerce licensees into accepting unreasonable licensing fees. They emphasized that OPPO respects intellectual property rights and advocates fair charges. Additionally, they encouraged resolving intellectual property disputes between licensors and licensees through friendly negotiations and mutual respect for the value of patents.

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