HTC handsets could be banned in Germany

Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC has not revised its first quarter sales forecast despite a court ruling in Germany that could see its handsets banned in the country.

Germany is one of the largest markets for the T-Mobile G1, manufactured by HTC.

However, sales of the handset – and future HTC models – could be banned in Germany after a district court ruled that the handset infringes upon a patent held by IP-Com.

The district court said that HTC must pay IP-Com the license fees for the patent in question or have sales of its handsets banned in Germany.

A German petition court will review the case in four weeks.

If the petition court rules against HTC, it will be under pressure to come to an agreement as it will not want to see any disruption to its G1 sales.

HTC said it is talking to its suppliers about a workaround design.

Last year, IP-Com filed a similar case against Nokia for $17.7 billion. Nokia denies all IP-Com’s claims.

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