Nokia has won a landmark patent infringement case against HTC and has managed to obtain an injunction against HTC One Mini effective from December 6.
UK High Court judge Richard Arnold has said in his latest ruling that the HTC One Mini contains chippery that has been patented by Nokia. The patent in question is EP0998024 described as a “modular structure for a transmitter and a mobile station.” Judge Arnold also ruled that similar injunction against HTC’s flagship device – the HTC One – could also be imposed, but is holding off so as to give HTC enough time to appeal against the ruling, which may harm HTC considerably.
HTC claimed that it is not a competitor to Nokia because its smartphones run Android while Nokia sells Windows Phone based smartphone. Nokia didn’t agree to this and has claimed that it lost substantial amount of sales after the HTC One range was launched.
HTC also claimed that the chips which are at the center of the patent infringement lawsuit are very small components, which didn’t justify a sales ban.
Despite the option for HTC to appeal, the ruling is definitely a huge blow for the Taiwanese company as Nokia may use its victory in the UK as leverage in its cases against HTC filed in different countries.
