Chinese tech firms Lenovo and Motorola have officially been banned from selling smartphones in Germany, a major market in Europe. This came in through a court order in the country earlier this week prohibiting them from selling all their devices that have a WWAN or Wireless Wide Area Network module.
As reported, both Lenovo and Motorola were found guilty of infringing on patents developed by US-based tech firm InterDigitial. Earlier this month, InterDigital was awarded an injunction against Lenovo in Germany. This was then followed by an enforced sales ban on Lenovo.
This means that Motorola, a subsidiary of Lenovo can no longer sell any devices that can access the internet via cellular networks in the country.
As it stands, the company has gotten rid of any trace of smartphones on its German website and only has a couple of accessories available. Only third parties are currently selling Lenovo and Motorola devices until stocks last.
Lenovo reportedly responded to the order stating that it will appeal the verdict, claiming that the terms from InterDigital are unjust.
Patent disputes seem to be taken very seriously in Germany as Lenovo is not the only company that has faced bans due to it. OPPO and OnePlus were previously given similar orders after their legal battle with Nokia. Luckily for them, a global patent licensing agreement was reached between all parties granting them permission to resume operations in Germany.
