Vivo Cannot Sell Its Phones In This European Market (Update)
Hadley Simmons / Android Authority
TL; the doctor
- After OnePlus and OPPO, vivo also stopped sales in the German market due to a patent dispute with Finnish hardware supplier Nokia.
- There are no products for sale on the German vivo site. The company continues to serve customers for products already sold.
- Vivo referred to a previous statement on the matter.
Updated: June 12, 2023 (3:30 AM ET). vivo did not provide a new response on this issue, instead referring us to a translated statement published on May 30.
The statement noted that the company was unable to reach an agreement regarding the extension of cross-licensing agreements with Nokia. The press release also confirms the suspension of sales and marketing of products in Germany. vivo also claims that after-sales service and software updates are not affected by this saga.
Original article: June 9, 2023 (8:44 a.m. ET). Last year, OPPO and OnePlus were banned from selling their phones in Germany due to a patent dispute against them. Now vivo is following suit by removing its store page in Germany, leaving consumers with the option to buy vivo smartphones in that country for the foreseeable future.
The text in the image above roughly translates to:
Unfortunately, the vivo product is currently unavailable in Germany. As a result, there is no product information on our German website. If you use vivo products, you can continue to rely on our customer support. You will also receive future software updates.
vivo did not specifically mention the reason for the store closure, nor did it say whether the move was temporary or permanent. We have reached out to vivo for a statement and will update the article when we hear back from them.
WinFuture reports that the release is related to a patent dispute with Nokia (a Finnish hardware supplier, not HMD Global, which owns the Nokia smartphone brand). Nokia has accused Vivo of infringing patents related to WLAN in its smartphones. The German courts ruled in favor of Nokia, and as a result, Vivo was forced to withdraw its products from the country. This is the same cause of action that also affected OnePlus and OPPO.
OPPO and OnePlus are reportedly considering exiting several European markets as well as the UK. However, OPPO has made it clear that it will not leave the German market (or any of the other markets), but operations in Germany have been suspended due to the ban. As of April 2023, OPPO is trying to negotiate the same with Nokia, although OPPO's German website remains empty as of this writing.
