Finnish manufacturer HMD Global had to remove most of its Nokia smartphones from its website in Germany due to patent disputes. Only the Nokia G21 model, launched in mid-February, is available for purchase from the Nokia store in Germany. Released at the same time, the Nokia G11 is still listed but is currently out of stock.
Nokia’s marketing company, HMD Global, has announced that it is unable to offer legacy Nokia smartphones due to a patent dispute with VoiceAgeEVS LLC. In a written statement from the company, “HMD is a defendant in several lawsuits brought by a company called VoiceAgeEVS LLC (VAEVS) in various countries, including Germany.” expressions were used.
Nokia will bid farewell to the German and EU markets
HMD Global writes in its announcement that it is also affected in other markets besides Germany. Old Nokia smartphones are no longer listed on the websites of French and Swiss manufacturers. However, HMD Global; It continues to offer older Nokia smartphones in Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Retailers like Amazon and MediaMarkt also still sell old Nokia phones in Germany.
The patent dispute with VoiceAgeEVS LLC resulted from a technology called EVS. EVS stands for Enhanced Voice Services, a codec for voice transmission used in many smartphones and part of the 3GPP standardization project. Part of the EVS codec was developed by the Canadian company VoiceAge in partnership with VoiceAgeEVS.
VoiceAgeEVS is monetizing this patent with investment group Fortress, which it partnered with in 2018. VoiceAgeEVS has since sued several cell phone manufacturers, including Apple, TCL and Lenovo, in addition to HMD Global.
However, other manufacturers, including Apple, settled with VoiceAgeEVS out of court, while HMD Global chose to fight. VoiceAgeEVS won its case against HMD in the Mannheim Court of Justice last summer. With this lawsuit, Nokia may have to withdraw from Germany.
This ban is definitely not good for HMD Global, which is starting to see positive financial reports after 4 years in the industry. Also, considering that Mobile World Congress 2022 will start a few days later (February 28), the timing of the case may also pose a problem for the company.
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