14 DAY TRIAL // Today, the British High Court ruled that HTC’s One mini smartphone was infringing Nokia patents, and that it should be withdrawn from sale in the UK starting with December 6. HTC has already started looking for a solution to the issue.
The company is pleased that the court has delayed the injunction against its flagship phone HTC One, and confirmed to Pocket-lint that it was already exploring alternative chipsets with its partners.
The company is looking to replace the chips inside devices that have been found to infringe Nokia’s patents, though it’s yet unknown whether it will indeed manage to do so in due time.
In the meantime, however, HTC thanked Judge Richard Arnold for delaying the injunction, and also announced that it had already filed an appeal.
“HTC is pleased by the decision of the High Court of England and Wales to stay an injunction against certain chipsets, including those in our flagship HTC One, pending the outcome of our appeal against the validity and infringement of Nokia's EP 0 998 024 patent,” the company told Pocket-lint.
“Whilst the Court also granted an injunction that affects other third party chipsets, we have filed urgent application to appeal. In the meantime, we are working with our chip suppliers to explore alternative solutions.”
HTC is confident that its HTC One smartphone will continue to be available for purchase in the UK as usual, and said that its main focus was on customer experience.
Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is expected to pursue financial compensations from HTC, though no further details on the matter have been provided for the time being.
HTC has also agreed to stop importing HTC One and HTC One mini smartphones in the UK pending the aforementioned appeal.
The ban on HTC’s Android devices in the UK will certainly hurt the company, especially given its poor financial performance lately. Its revenue dropped 27.1 percent year-on-year in November.