After losing a patent fight with Nokia, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo and its sub-brand OnePlus stopped selling smartphones in Germany.
According to the European patent news website Juve Patent, Nokia has accused the businesses of utilizing its patented technology for processing 4G and 5G signals without obtaining a license. Last Friday, a German court granted an injunction to stop sales. (To be clear, this is Nokia, the dominant manufacturer of telecom equipment in Europe, which is based in Finland. A different, also Finnish firm called HMD Global owns the Nokia mobile brand.)
This ruling has been complied with by Oppo and OnePlus, as shown by modifications to their German websites.
Oppo’s website no longer makes any reference to physical products, such as smartphones and smartwatches. Comparatively speaking, the homepage of the company’s UK website includes a link to Oppo’s store as well as numerous product details. Similar to how it has simplified its UK website, OnePlus’ German website displays no results for the phones or watches it sells. A little navigating will get you to a product description, but hitting the “purchase now” button will take you directly to a 404 error page.
This ruling has been complied with by Oppo and OnePlus, as shown by modifications to their German websites.
Oppo’s website no longer makes any reference to physical products, such as smartphones and smartwatches. Comparatively speaking, the homepage of the company’s UK website includes a link to Oppo’s store as well as numerous product details. Similar to how it has simplified its UK website, OnePlus’ German website displays no results for the phones or watches it sells. A little navigating will get you to a product description, but hitting the “purchase now” button will take you directly to a 404 error page.
A spokeswoman for Oppo acknowledged to Juve Patent that the firm was “suspending the sale and marketing of certain devices through Oppo Germany’s official channels,” and claimed that the reason for this was Nokia’s “unreasonably high contract renewal cost” for its patents.
Both of these claims suggest that Oppo and OnePlus phones will continue to function flawlessly in Germany and that sales may still be possible through independent resellers.
Although technology enthusiasts may be familiar with the names Oppo and Oneplus, the businesses are minor participants in the European smartphone industry. Data from Counterpoint Research indicates that Oppo and OnePlus combined for barely 5% of the whole European market in Q2 2022 (behind Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi).