Lenovo and Motorola get a sales ban in Germany
After a court ruling, Lenovo and its subsidiary Motorola are facing a ban in Germany. The legal dispute is between Lenovo and the US-based InterDigital over a patent infringement regarding WWAN modules. These modules enable wireless mobile connection in smartphones and other portable devices.
As a result, all devices supporting GSM, UMTS, LTE and 5G connectivity will not be allowed on the German market. This includes some Lenovo mobile devices and Motorola smartphones, including the most recent Edge 50 lineup.
The court decided that Lenovo utilizes technology InterDigital has a patent over and the Chinese-based company hasn"t met InterDigital"s demands for fair and reasonable licensing fees. Contrary to the court"s ruling, Lenovo believes that InterDigital"s terms are not fair and will appeal the court"s decision.
As of now, only third-party retailers are selling Lenovo and Motorola-branded devices until stocks last, but the two companies are no longer listing devices with WWAN on their official web stores. As is usually the case, the two companies will likely reach a settlement outside the court and impacted mobile devices will return on the shelves. But if you are planning on buying one of Motorola or Lenovo"s products in Germany, you might want to hurry, because no one knows how long the sales ban will last.
