UK court stays HTC injunction
Smartphone maker HTC has resumed selling its One mini in the UK after the Court of Appeal stayed an injunction against the product and other HTC phones.
Earlier this month the England & Wales High Court ordered a sales ban against several HTC products held to infringe a Nokia patent. It told HTC to shelve the One mini device but allowed it to continue selling the One product pending an appeal.
HTC appealed on December 4, but as part of the court order the company was forced to stop selling the One mini on December 6.
In a ruling on December 12, the Court of Appeal stayed injunctions against the One mini, meaning it is now back on sale in the UK, and against other HTC products such as the One, which had not actually been banned until the appeal’s outcome.
The Court of Appeal will hold a full hearing next year.
An HTC spokesman said the company is “delighted” with the decision.
It added: “Even though we plan to aggressively appeal the validity decision of Nokia’s EP 0,998,024 patent, we will continue to work with our chip suppliers on alternative solutions to ensure minimal disruption to our business in the future.”
Nokia’s patent – “Modulator structure for a transmitter and a mobile station” – is not limited to mobile phone networks but is particularly relevant to them. It covers three mobile network standards: GSM, PCN and PCS.
A Nokia spokesman said while the company is pleased with the original decision, “it is unfortunate that the stay means that HTC can continue to benefit from its unauthorised and uncompensated use of Nokia innovations”.
“We look forward to the Court of Appeal confirming that the patent is valid and infringed,” the spokesman added, “lifting the stay on the injunction and awarding Nokia financial compensation for HTC’s infringement”.
The Nokia spokesman explained that the patent comes to trial in Dusseldorf, Germany in January 2014 and is also “in suit” in France and Italy. The patent’s US equivalent is in Nokia’s second complaint filed against HTC at the International Trade Commission.
Nokia sued HTC in 2012 and has since asserted more than 50 patents against its rival in Europe, Japan and the US.
