Along with its parent firm Oppo, OnePlus finds itself in yet another patent-related legal dispute, leading to a fresh German sales ban. This scenario reminds me of a past conflict with Nokia that also resulted in a sales embargo in the nation, only recently settled few months ago. Sadly, the pattern has come again.
This time, however, the argument revolves around important patents for 5G and other mobile technologies and centres InterDigital rather than Nokia. Emphasising patent rights, the essence of the disagreement is similar to that of past problems with Nokia.
Thus, while other items are still accessible, OnePlus’s online shop in Germany no longer shows cellphones for sale, implying that the restriction especially targets 5G-enabled handsets. The company’s future phone sales in the nation is not quite clear-cut.
Reacting, OnePlus issued an official statement:
“OnePlus values intellectual property rights and equitable access to standard essential patents highly as they are absolutely necessary for industrial innovation to be stimulated. We promise to gently address this with InterDigital by means of negotiations. Our commitment to Europe is still strong, hence we will keep providing to our clients outstanding goods and services.”
For now, German OnePlus enthusiasts will have to wait for the result of the continuous discussions to find out if the firm may bring back its cellphones for sale.
