Published in Mobiles

Nokia wins HTC ban in the Netherlands

by on24 April 2013



Don’t put your phone in your Netherlands

Nokia has won a court injunction banning HTC from using microphone components in its flagship HTC One smartphones in Holland. Nokia said it looked under the bonnet of the HTC One and found the high-amplitude audio-capture technology was the same as its own.

The ruling made by the Amsterdam District Court is effective until March 2014 and will prevent STMicro, which sells the parts, from offering them to HTC for sale. The court ruled that the parts had been invented by Nokia and manufactured exclusively for the Finnish company's phones.

Nokia said that HTC has no licence or authorisation from Nokia to use these microphones or the Nokia technologies from which they have been developed. The move means that STMicroelectronics can’t sell the microphones to anyone except Nokia, anywhere in the world, until 1 March 2014.

"The HAAC [high amplitude audio capture] technology used in these microphones is Nokia's and there is no alternate supplier." 

HTC said it would explore alternative solutions immediately. STMicro said that it will challenge the ruling, but it is also ready to propose alternative solutions.

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