HTC's German Resellers Sued for Selling Its Phones

HTC last month dropped an appeal of an injunction IPCom got from a German court in 2009. That made the injunction enforceable. The phones enjoined are any devices using UMTS innovation, which is everything HTC sells.

Notice to stop selling the phones

IPCom subsequently sent perhaps 100 retailers a notice to stop selling the phones by December 20. They didn't cooperate so it started suing.

IPCom acquired the standard-essential patent it's using from Bosch. HTC is to all appearances counting on the European Patent Office revoking the patent, which standardizes a cell phone's first connection to a network, at a hearing in April. HTC claims that a Federal Patents Court ruled the patent invalid so the 2009 verdict is void even though that decision hasn't taken effect but.

IPCom is collecting royalties from some phone makers nevertheless not HTC or Nokia. IPCom is threatening not to license HTC the patent at all if it continues to infringe.

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Maureen O'Gara the most read research reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected research reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara