After losing a patent lawsuit with Nokia, Chinese manufacturer Vivo is preparing to stop selling its smartphones in Germany. On the Thursday before Easter, the district court in Mannheim ruled that Vivo violated a mobile phone patent and sentenced the manufacturer to cease and desist (Az. 2 O 36/22).
The lawsuit concerns patent EP2981103, which describes a method for “assigning preamble sequences” when accessing mobile radio networks. The patent is considered essential for the 4G (LTE) and 5G mobile communications standards. According to a cross-industry agreement, rights to use such standard-essential patents should be licensed on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (“FRAND”).
FRAND or not FRAND
The concrete design of the FRAND conditions takes place in the negotiations between the licensor and the licensee. As a rule, this involves entire license packages and not individual patents. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the dispute often ends up in court. Nokia accuses Vivo of infringing various patents in several proceedings before the district courts of Munich and Mannheim. Vivo is filing a counterclaim in Düsseldorf.
Vivo is now threatened with a sales ban in Germany should Nokia enforce its injunctive relief. On the basis of the same patent, the Finnish mobile communications equipment supplier had already successfully sued the Chinese manufacturer Oppo for an injunction. Oppo, which, like Vivo, is part of the Chinese BBK Group, had to stop selling smartphones in Germany – and is now apparently largely withdrawing from the German market.
Vivo is preparing
Vivo could now share this fate. “We are disappointed with the decision of the district court in Mannheim and have made preparations to suspend the sale and marketing of the products concerned via the official channels of vivo Germany if this is necessary,” the company said when asked by heise online. “We are preparing an appeal against the decision and will examine other options.”
Meanwhile, Vivo wants to continue negotiations with Nokia. “We have negotiated with Nokia about the renewal of the mutual licenses, but have not yet been able to reach an agreement,” said Vivo. “We firmly believe that Nokia has not yet fulfilled its obligation to offer a license on FRAND terms.” Meanwhile, the other proceedings against Nokia continue.
Nokia did not immediately answer questions from heise online.
(vbr)