Some of the most popular mobile phone brands on the market may be on the verge of disappearing in the European Union. Now it’s Vivo’s turn to suffer the wrath of Nokia and, as happened with its “sisters”, it started in Germany.
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It was last summer when Oppo and OnePlus announced they were stopping selling cellphones in Germany, following a court ruling in favor of Nokia. The owners of the classic Finnish brand’s patents claimed that these phones copied the technology originally developed by Nokia.
Vivo has also been denounced by Nokia
It’s no surprise that next on the list is Vivo. After all, Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus belong to the same business conglomerate, BBK Electronics, and their phones share many parts; sometimes they even launch the same mobile with a different name. It makes sense that if one of these brands is found to have infringed a patent, the others will also be affected.
As on previous occasions, Vivo showed its “disappointment” with the Mannheim court which ruled in favor of Nokia, and although it decided to comply with the sentence and stop selling its mobiles in Germany , he also announced that he was preparing a call and looking at other options.
The Nokia of networks has recently changed its image to differentiate itself from that of mobile phones
Although we are talking about “Nokia”, it must be remembered that the original company was divided in two; the mobile brand ended up in the hands of HMD Global and continues to launch smartphones, while everything related to wireless and mobile networks was created under the Nokia Networks name. It is the latter who gets payments for each mobile sold that uses its technologies, and the one who believes that Oppo, OnePlus and now Vivo must pay.
For its part, Vivo repeated the same defense that Oppo and OnePlus had made in their time: that the agreement offered by Nokia is unfair. Although they are willing to pay, they all believe that Nokia’s licenses do not comply with the FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms of the industry, and that is why they could not reach a payment agreement.
Vivo is preparing new folding mobiles, which could be affected by this legal battle
The free Android
This news now raises two questions. The first is how does this affect Europe? So far, Nokia has focused its legal offensive on Germany, and the question is whether it can apply the same victories to the rest of the EU. This is why a rumor has recently spread that Oppo and OnePlus are going to leave the Spanish market, which both companies have denied and which ultimately turned out to be false. In the same way, Vivo has clarified that the pause in mobile sales does not affect other markets outside of Germany and therefore we can continue to buy their mobiles in Europe without problems.
The second question is what about Realme? It’s the only brand in the group so far unscathed, but we think that will change if Nokia goes this route.
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