November 26, 2020
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A court in Munich, Germany recently granted an injunction brought by Nokia against the world’s largest personal computer maker, Lenovo Group Limited (“Lenovo”).
The injunction provides temporary relief to the telecommunications company by restricting Lenovo’s ability to sell products that infringe on its video-encoding patents within Germany. However, this short term victory came with a large price tag. The late cellphone giant was forced to deposit 3.25 million euros as collateral with the court pending a final decision on the matter.
As reported by NokiaMob.net, Lenovo told German IT platform, Golem.de, that Nokia’s failure to offer licenses on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms could prove harmful for the broader tech industry by restricting innovation and the dissemination of technology. Lenovo has reportedly stated that it intends to appeal the decision.
As reported by Bloomberg, Nokia has commenced similar legal actions in courtrooms outside of Germany, including the U.S., Brazil and India.
Authors: Samantha Galway and Awale Deria