HTC One Mini banned in U.K. after Nokia win in patent dispute

HTC received some bad news today about their plans to sell the HTC One Mini in the U.K. – they can’t. That word came as part of ruling issued by Judge Richard Arnold in a case between Nokia and HTC involving chips in the HTC devices. Nokia claimed the chips were infringing patents they own. The sales ban will go into effect on December 6th. According to Judge Arnold, the HTC One is also infringing on Nokia’s patents, but he did not institute a sales ban while HTC appeals the ruling due to the “considerable” damage HTC would suffer. Even with that small reprieve, it appears HTC has agreed to stop importing any of their HTC One devices into the U.K. while an appeal is underway.

In addition to stopping sales of the HTC One line in the U.K., Nokia is also asking for financial compensation for the infringement that has occurred to date. In arguing against the sales ban, HTC tried to convince the court that the Nokia patents were only one small part of all of the systems that make up one of their smartphone devices and thus, banning the entire device was not justified and financial compensation would be sufficient. In the ruling, Judge Arnold noted HTC sold approximately 750,000 smartphones, for about $363 million USD, in the U.K. from January through September of this year. However, it is not clear what portion of those devices were HTC One or HTC One Mini smartphones.

HTC has not yet issued a statement regarding this latest ruling or what the loss of the U.K. market, even if limited to just a couple devices, may mean for the company. Given their financial struggles, a hurdle like this was definitely not something HTC needed. Meanwhile, HTC continues to wait for a final ruling in a dispute with Nokia that could result in a sales ban of several devices in the U.S.

source: Bloomberg

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