Lenovo and its subsidiary Motorola Mobility recently faced major legal resistance in Germany following a court ruling that banned the sale of their devices containing the WLAN module required for mobile Internet connectivity. The drastic move stems from a patent dispute with American technology firm Inter Digital.
The Munich District Court ruled in favor of Inter Digital earlier this May, which resulted in an immediate ban on Lenovo authorities after it submitted a security deposit of four million euros.
The main dispute centers around the licensing terms of WLAN technology used in Lenovo products, including the recently unveiled smartphone, the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra. These devices use technology patented by Interdigital and the fee Lenovo pays for their use has been disputed. Interdigital claimed that Lenovo had not met their demands in terms of paying fair and reasonable licensing fees, forcing them to take legal action. Lenovo, on the other hand, said that Inter Digital’s terms were not fair and that it plans to appeal the decision.
The court’s decision had an immediate impact on Lenovo’s business in Germany. According to the ruling, Lenovo is prohibited from selling, offering or importing any WLAN-enabled devices in Germany. Devices include smartphones, tablets and laptops, which use mobile networks such as GSM, UMTS, LTE and 5G. This is affecting not only Motorola’s smartphones, but also Lenovo’s mobile-enabled devices.
