Nokia will have to remove all (or almost all) of his smartphones from the Germany and Switzerland. Not a choice, but an obligation: the Finnish company will have to fight in court against VoiceAgeEVS LLC. Today the brand is owned by HMD Global.
At the heart of the lawsuit is a dispute over the unauthorized use of some patents. With an instance, VoiceAgeEVS requested and obtained the suspension of the sale of HDM Global smartphones.
Currently it Nokia official store in Germany it exclusively shows two smartphones: the Nokia G21 and the Nokia G11, both devices of very recent presentation. The situation is even worse in the stores of Italy, France and Spain, where the Nokia G21 is exclusively available. Same story in Finland, home of HMD Global and Nokia.
VoiceAgeEVS challenges HMD Global’s use of some patents related to technologies VoLTE standard and Enhanced Voice Service Standardboth of which are used to make voice calls using the LTE network.
In Germany and Switzerland, all smartphones released in 2021 and in previous years have disappeared from Nokia’s European stores. In the other European stores the older smartphones are still visible but are not available for purchase.
In a note sent to the press, HMD Global explained that it was embittered by the choice of a German court to comply with the instance of the VoiceAgeEVS. The company added that it will have to defend itself in different jurisdictions, and not only in Germany, and that in the meantime it has already stopped the sale of every device equipped with EVS technology.
It is not the first time: in the past VAEV had sued several other tech companies, again for the alleged infringement of its patents. In recent years it had already happened with Apple, Lenovo and TCL. In all these cases, the dispute was resolved with a mediation agreement, outside the courtroom.
What is certain is that, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, HDM Global will be forced to limit the offer of its products for an extended period of time. The impact on the company’s revenues is likely to be extremely heavy.
The Nokia G21 is a mid-range with an eye for those looking for a smartphone with solid performance and an affordable price. You can find it on Amazon, now at a price below € 200.
