Motorola can’t sell phones in Germany anymore

Summary

• Lenovo and Motorola hit with a temporary sales ban in Germany amid ongoing patent dispute with InterDigital.
• InterDigital won the WWAN patent dispute case, blocking Lenovo and Motorola from selling devices in Germany.
• Affected devices include mobiles, laptops, and other accessories with mobile connectivity.

In 2022, OnePlus, Oppo, and Vivo stopped selling their smartphones in Germany and some European markets due to a patent dispute with Nokia. While the matter was eventually settled, the three companies were missing from Europe’s largest smartphone market for over a year. This time, Lenovo and Motorola have been hit with a sales ban in Germany due to their ongoing patent dispute with US firm, InterDigital, prohibiting them from selling their smartphones and tablets in the country.

In early May, the Munich regional court ruled in favor of InterDigital in a WWAN patent dispute case against Lenovo and Motorola. The court verdict prevents the two companies from “offering or importing patent-infringing items in Germany.” This includes phones, tablets, laptops, and other devices capable of accessing the internet over GSM, UMTS, LTE, or 5G networks (via GSMArena).

For the temporary sales ban to be enforceable, InterDigital had to deposit around 4.5 million euros with the court as security. Initially, the US company did not make the required payment, enabling Lenovo (and Motorola) to continue shipping the affected products to retail partners in Germany. But it deposited the money last week (May 8), leading to the provisional enforcement of the ban.

Following this, Motorola scrubbed all mentions of smartphones from its German website. Similarly, Lenovo has taken down all laptop listings that violate the patent, with some configurations on sale only until supplies are available.

Third-party retailers can continue selling Motorola phones and Lenovo laptops until stocks last. However, once they run out of supplies, they must wait for the patent dispute to be resolved to resume sales.

The legal battle between Lenovo and InterDigital can drag on for long

A WirtschaftsWoche report details that InterDigital lost its patent dispute case against Lenovo in the UK’s Supreme Court in Great Britain in June 2023. The court then ruled InterDigital could only charge a licensing fee of $0.175 per unit. However, Lenovo could not reach an agreement with the US company as it has seemingly significantly hiked the patent licensing fees.

Lenovo plans to appeal against the ruling but given how such cases are dragged out in court, its laptops and Motorola phones could be missing from Germany for a while.