According to recent reports, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer, HMD Global, has halted retail sales of most of its smartphones in the German and Swiss consumer markets due to a lawsuit filed against HMD Global by VoiceAge EVS LLC (VA EVS).
VoiceAge EVS LLC licenses a global, standard-essential patent portfolio relating to voice and audio technologies for smartphones and other similar products. The company filed a lawsuit against HMD Global over patents related to VoLTE and the Enhanced Voice Service standard on which it is based.
VAEVS filed for a sales boycott in December, and the courts appear to be supporting it for the time being. Previously, the company had sued Apple, TCL, and Lenovo for using voice standards to make VoLTE calls over the LTE network as well.
However, those manufacturers reached an out-of-court settlement with VoiceAge EVS LLC.
While HMD Global was one of the manufacturers who used VAEVS voice standards without permission, this resulted in a lawsuit and a sales ban in Germany.
Furthermore, if you go to the Nokia Germany and Nokia Switzerland websites, you’ll only find the G21 and G11, with no mention of phones from 2021 or earlier. However, the X20, X10, and other models are available in the UK.
The ban, however, comes at a particularly inconvenient time for HMD Global, given that the company only recently began reporting positive financial results after four years in business.
Furthermore, with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) only a few days away, the company did not need a ban.
To read our blog on “Nokia Smartphone Running on Samsung Exynos 7884 Spotted on Geekbench,” click here.
