HTC may stop German phone sales in patent fight
updated 10:15 am EST, Fri March 6, 2009
HTC sued by IPCom
German license manager for patents, IP-Com, has recently sued HTC for allegedly infringing on patents related to UMTS network technology used in the Korean hardware manufacturer's Windows Mobile- and Android-based handsets. If HTC fails to pay the license fees to IP-Com, the company may be forced to stop sales of its handsets in Germany, with a German court already siding with IP-Com in a February 27th ruling. HTC uses UMTS, one of the first forms of 3G network technology, in nearly all of its European offerings.
The patents in question are the 100-series of patents IP-Com bought from Robert Bosch GmbH in 2006. IP-Com also filed a separate injunction against Google last week, as the software company is working in conjunction with HTC on the T-Mobile G1 handset and its upcoming successor, the HTC Magic.
IP-Com filed a similar lawsuit against Nokia, seeking $17.7 billion last year.
