Oppo and OnePlus smartphones banned in Germany: here’s what’s happening

Oppo and OnePlus have stopped selling their smartphones in Germanydue to an ongoing dispute between companies and Nokia, regarding the use of some patents related to 4G technology. It is not clear if among these there are also those at the center of an agreement that took place in 2018, but what we do know is that the legal battle between Oppo and Nokia has been underway for some time and that at the beginning of June the two companies were ordered to find an agreement, under penalty of the ban of the devices of the Chinese house from the German market.

Evidently the agreement has not been reachedwhich is why Nokia has pleaded its reasons and got the complete removal of Oppo smartphones – and also those OnePlus, as these are also affected by the infringement of patents – from the company’s online store, while the products are still available for purchase on third-party channels such as Amazon, while stocks last. Obviously this has no consequences for devices already sold, which will continue to work and receive updates regularly.

According to what emerged, at the basis of the non-agreement there would be too high royalties costs requested by Nokiawhich seem to come to up to 2.5 euros per device sold. The problem is that, in order to comply with German law, Oppo and Nokia would have had to sign an agreement on a global basis, so the payment would have covered all the smartphones sold by Oppo, OnePlus and probably also the other companies of the BBK group in around the globe.

Nokia has also sued the group in several other European countries, including France, Spain, Finland, Sweden and the UKhence the risk that the contagion of the ban extends to other large markets is entirely concrete. In any case, Oppo and OnePlus have not completely abandoned Germany, since they continue to sell all the other products not affected by the ban, such as headphones. It remains to be seen if the companies involved will be able to find an agreement or if the stay in Europe of Oppo, OnePlus and other BBK brands such as Vivo and Realme is at great risk in the near future.