The HTC One Mini has been banned from sale in the UK after the Taiwanese manufacturer lost a British-based patent dispute with rival Nokia.
The HTC One Mini ban will come into effect as of this Friday, December 6, with Nokia also pushing to have the flagship HTC One pulled from retailers’ shelves in the UK.
According to Bloomberg, London’s Judge Richard Arnold ruled that
Although HTC has agreed to halt shipments of the 4.3-inch handset to British shores, Nokia has confirmed that it will seek further damages now that the sales ban has been imposed.
“Nokia is also claiming financial compensation for the infringement of this patent,” a statement from the Finnish manufacturer has stated.
Although Judge Arnold ruled that the flagship HTC One also features the Nokia patent encroaching microchips, he has delayed a potential sales ban on the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Nokia Lumia 1020 rival, stating such a block would cause “considerable” damage to HTC.
Strangly, in separate comments made to TrustedReviews, both Nokia and HTC have claimed that they are ‘pleased’ with the High Court ruling that will see the HTC One Mini barred from sale.
“Nokia is pleased that the UK High Court has imposed an injunction on certain HTC products found in October to infringe a Nokia patent,” the Lumia 1520 maker told us. “The injunction is stayed until December 6 to allow HTC time to appeal. Pending the appeal, HTC has undertaken not to ship any more of the infringing products into the UK, except the HTC One which it may continue to sell until the conclusion of any appeal. If HTC does not succeed on appeal, the injunction will take effect on all infringing products. Nokia is also claiming financial compensation for the infringement of this patent.”
An official HTC spokesperson added: “HTC is pleased by the decision of the High Court of England and Wales to stay an injunction against certain chipsets, including those in our flagship HTC One, pending the outcome of our appeal against the validity and infringement of Nokia’s EP 0 998 024 patent.
“Whilst the Court also granted an injunction that affects other third party chipsets, we have filed urgent application to appeal. In the meantime, we are working with our chip suppliers to explore alternative solutions. As always, HTC’s primary focus is on supporting our customers and ensuring minimal disruption to them and our business. Rest assured that our award winning HTC One handset will be available as usual.”
The HTC One Mini was officially unveiled earlier this summer as a smaller, stripped back spin off to the flagship HTC One.
Powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, the HTC One Mini specs sheet is bolstered by 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and Google’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, skinned with the company’s much loved Sense UI.
With a 4-Ultrapixel rear-mounted camera, the 9.3mm thick, 122g in weight HTC One Mini is rounded off by a secondary, 1.6-megapixel snapper up front and an 1800mAh Lithium-Ion battery.
Read More: HTC One Max review
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
