On August 11, according to European media reports, last week, Nokia sued OPPO and its subsidiary OnePlus for patent infringement in Germany.

Nokia reportedly won an injunction to stop sales in a German court on Friday, accusing the companies of using its patented technology to process 4G and 5G signals without paying licensing fees.

After receiving the court injunction, OPPO responded very quickly, all references to their own smartphones have been removed from the German website, and the OnePlus online store has recently stopped selling any phones. However, the devices are still freely tradeable, so it remains to be seen what the outcome will be. International resellers such as Mediamarkt, Saturn or Amazon can source goods abroad, while Nokia can respond and demand customs seizures.

OPPO’s German website shows, “There is currently no product information on our website. Users can continue to use OPPO products without restrictions, receive support, and of course will receive all future updates.”

It is reported that the patent lawsuit will also affect vivo, because Nokia also sued the mobile phone brand, involving the necessary mobile phone patents for which Nokia has exclusive rights. Due to Germany’s strict patent law, Nokia was able to successfully sue one after another. Wirtschaftswoche reports that OPPO wants to get out of Germany entirely, because German sales account for 1% of its total profit and it is not worth obtaining a license for global sales.

At an extra 2.50 euros (about 17.2 yuan) per smartphone, the competitiveness of emerging markets will be threatened. If other European countries that Nokia is suing follow the German judgment, OPPO may even withdraw from the entire Western European market. In addition, industry experts believe this will hurt consumers even more, as OPPO has about 10% market share in Germany, and the absence of OPPO and OnePlus could lead to key limitations in mobile phones. In addition to chip shortages, this could have a negative impact on prices, especially considering that vivo phones may also be banned from German shelves before Christmas.