Patents firm IPCom announced its plan to block the sale of HTC smartphones, the fourth largest smartphone company in the world, in Germany following HTC’s withdrawal of its appeal, Reuters reports.
IPCom was successful in a German court decision against HTC over various patent infringements, which HTC was planning to appeal. But the mobile company withdrew its appeal Friday.
"Apparently, HTC has accepted it had no realistic chance of winning this case - the courts have clearly established that HTC has been infringing our patents and now given us the means to put a stop to it," said Bernhard Frohwitter, managing director of Ipcom, The Inquirer reports.
IPCom is aiming to remove all HTC devices especially in time just before for the vital Christmas holiday shopping season.
HTC lawyers believe the withdrawal will buy time for them to two other patents. But analysts say the damaging effects of the German sales halt will be significant on HTC.
"This represents an unwelcome distraction during an already difficult quarter for HTC," said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber, Reuters reports.
Last month, HTC predicted revenue would drop eight percent from October to December, but the stock has dropped 30 percent in eight consecutive trading days, Reuters reports.
German patent firm IPCom also plans to take similar injunctions against Nokia over multiple patents.
