Finnish mobile phone manufacturer, HMD Global is no longer able to sell most Nokia phones released before 2022 in Germany and Switzerland. This is a result of five lawsuits filed against the manufacturer by VoiceAgeEVS LLC (VAEVS) in Mannheim and Munich back in 2019. The lawsuits were over patent EP 27 07 687, related to Enhanced Voice Service (EVS) standard, which is a speech coding technology mainly used with VoLTE (Voice over LTE). According to VAEVS, HMD Global does not have a license to use the standard.
After more than a year of dispute in court, VAEVS won the lawsuit before the Mannheim Court of Justice in July 2021. In the December of the same year, VAEVS applied for a sale ban of all Nokia devices using the EVS standard in Germany and Switzerland, which the courts granted. The ruling can be felt this month as HMD Global was forced to remove most of its smartphones from the Nokia online store of the respective countries. The models include the Nokia X, XR and G series smartphones released in 2021 which all support VoLTE for voice calls.
Right now, Nokia fans are only limited to the Nokia G21 and G11 Android smartphones which silently went on sale in February 2022. Why were these two models spared? Well, it’s unclear right, but if I had to guess, it was because the models were not available when VAEVS applied for the sale ban, thus weren’t included in the list.
It also seems that VAEVS is also trying to stop sales of Nokia smartphones in other European countries like France, Italy, Spain and Finland. Though Nokia’s full range of devices is listed on the respective countries’ online store, only the Nokia G21 is available for purchase while the rest are just listed as “unavailable”. At the moment, it looks like the United Kingdom, which exited the European Union, is not affected by the sale ban.
Lawsuits are notoriously known for taking years to settle, so it is unknown when the phones will be back on sale. Speaking to German online publication site, Heise, HMD Global commented (German text translated to English using Google), “HMD is a defendant in several lawsuits filed by VoiceAgeEVS LLC (“VAEVS”) in various jurisdictions, including Germany. We are disappointed with the completion of the VoiceAge enforcement proceedings in Germany in December and have complained. In the meantime, we have ensured that none of the devices offered and distributed in Germany support EVS”
There is a caveat. It seems that online eCommerce platforms like Amazon and MediaMarkt are still offering the whole range of Nokia phones for purchase in Europe, including Germany.
Just like the United States, the Malaysian market seems to be unaffected. Malaysians can still purchase the whole range of Nokia phones via the official Shopee and Lazada stores.
HMD Global was founded for the sole purpose of returning the Nokia brand to its homeland. The company bought the design rights and the “Nokia” brand name in May of 2016 from then owner, Microsoft. Since the purchase, the company has released over 50 Android smartphones and tablets, and revived some classic Nokia phones like the 3310. The phones cover all market segments, from entry-level options like the Nokia 2.4 to flagship devices such as the Nokia 9 PureView.
HMD Global is not the only smartphone manufacturer to be attacked by VAEVS. Other companies like Apple, Lenovo and TCL faced lawsuits in 2020 over the same EVS patent infringement. However, it looks like Apple has settled the patent dispute outside of court as reported by Fosspatents. This was suggested when Apple withdrew from a joint antitrust action filed with Intel against VAEVS’s parent company, Fortress. At the same time, Fortress also dropped multiple patent infringements lawsuits against Apple.
HMD Global, on the other hand, looks like it will choose to settle the dispute in court.
