Motorola and Lenovo find themselves banned in Germany

In Germany, Lenovo and its subsidiary Motorola find themselves unable to sell some of their products.

The recent case between Lenovo and InterDigital in Germany will strangely remind you of the case involving Nokia and Oppo.

In Nokia's case, the patent battle also led to a temporary ban on the sale of Oppo's products. It took an agreement between the two companies after a few months.

In this tense context, Lenovo and Motorola find themselves facing a similar situation, this time with the American company InterDigital.

InterDigital patent story

Lenovo and Motorola used an InterDigital patent without a licence, leading to a ban on the sale of smartphones and laptops equipped with cellular modems in Germany, according to a ruling by the Munich Regional Court.

All 4G or 5G enabled devices are affected. Despite Lenovo's appeal, the ban remains in place thanks to a four million euro deposit paid by InterDigital. We are talking here about Motorola smartphones, but also about Lenovo laptops with 4G/5G modem.

Lenovo criticizes InterDigital for not offering fair and equitable licensing prices, while InterDigital accuses Lenovo of rejecting these terms.

Not the first time

The case in Germany is just the latest chapter in a series of legal confrontations between these two entities.

In June 2023, Lenovo obtained a favorable ruling in Great Britain, where the fees charged by InterDigital were deemed excessive. However, it remains to be seen whether the German Court of Appeal will take a similar position.