Motorola phone ban hits Europe – is your country affected?
Quick Summary
Motorola and parent company Lenovo have been banned from selling mobile devices in Germany.
German courts have imposed the sales ban after the firms were found to have infringed a communications patent.
Motorola is reportedly having to withdraw its phones from sale in a major European country, after a court order was served on the company and its parent Lenovo.
The ban affects all Motorola phones that contain WWAN or Wireless Wide Area Network modules, as the technology used has been found to have unlawfully infringed a patent filed by US firm InterDigital.
The ban is currently country-wide in Germany, with even the company's German website removing all products bar earbuds and chargers.
That includes one of the best foldable phones around, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra and, as Android Authority reports, the Motorola Edge 50 lineup launched just last month.
The ban also affect Lenovo laptops that use the same communications technology. Affected devices are only therefore being sold "while stocks last".
Lenovo told T3 in a statement that it does not agree with the ruling and intends to appeal: "We respect the Munich court’s decision but do not agree with it given our belief that [InterDigital] IDC has violated its own legal obligations to license its technology on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms to either Lenovo or our third-party suppliers.
"Innovation must be both accessible and affordable, and IDC’s unreasonable global patent licensing behaviours and fees disadvantage German customers, especially consumers by reducing access to the latest technologies and driving up prices for tech products. We look forward to the next stage of the proceedings and our appeal."
It is not yet known if other countries will see handsets taken off shelves too, as the ban is limited to Germany at present.
Motorola and its parent firm are not the first to have been accused of patent infringement in recent times, Oppo and OnePlus phones were withdrawn from several EU member states a couple of years ago after a court battle with Nokia.
They have since agreed a deal with the Finnish tech giant and their devices are therefore back on shelves across the continent.
The latest ruling could affect Motorola greatly in the coming month though, as the brand prepares to launch its latest flip phone – the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra.
That handset is said to be coming in the next week or so, after being spotted on yet another certification website. Just not to Germany, at present.
