Court bans sales of ASUS and Acer laptops in Germany, says Nokia has not licensed HEVC/H.265 patents

Two of the main laptop manufacturers are facing problems selling their products in one of the countries that offers the largest market within Europe. We talk about Acer and ASUSwhere a German court has banned the sale of laptops of these two brands in the country before the Patent infringement filed by Nokiaand related to the techniques of HEVC/H.265 encoding and decoding. A court has estimated as preventive measure remove laptops from sale of both brands from their online stores in Germany.

A German court paralyzes sales of ASUS and Acer laptops; Nokia says it has not licensed patents to use HEVC/H.265 codecs

The laptops of both brands have a GPU capable of using HEVC/H.265 encoding and decoding engines for videoand its use must be licensed. It seems that both ASUS like Acerhad not been demonstrated voluntary licensees as specified in the FRAND standardsso the judge has determined this precautionary measure. The measure consists of the withdrawal from sale and distributionbut it does not affect stores that currently have stock.

Acer has sent a statement specifying that they will also take legal actions to reverse this situation as soon as possiblehowever, Nokia is willing to negotiatebut look for one fair compensation for the use of technology that belongs to them.

It seems that the quickest way will be accept Nokia’s accusations and, without having to wait for a final determination that will surely come late, accept a negotiation to be able to put their devices on sale as soon as possible in German territory.

ASUS temporarily suspends its official website and online store in Germany due to this ruling

On the other hand, ASUS has made a public statement regarding this patent dispute with Nokia where they claim to have temporarily suspended their official website and online store in Germany:

ASUS statement on the matter:

“ASUS has temporarily suspended its official website and online store in Germany following a ruling by the Munich Regional Court I (case no. Munich I – 7 O 4102/25) related to a patent dispute with Nokia. The suspension, resulting from a temporary court order, affects certain ASUS computers and products that use high-efficiency video coding (HEVC).

All after-sales services in Germany remain fully operational and existing customers will continue to receive uninterrupted support in full compliance with the current court order. ASUS is evaluating and taking additional legal action to reach a fair resolution as soon as possible. ASUS maintains its position and commitment to our customers and partners.”