Nokia forces Acer and Asus to halt PC sales in Germany

Technology company Nokia has obtained a sales injunction against Acer and Asus, forcing the PC manufacturers to halt sales of their computers in Germany. The ruling stems from a patent dispute over the H.265 (HEVC) video codec, a standard for efficient video compression.

In response, Acer has taken its German website and online shop offline, displaying an apology for "any inconvenience." Asus has marked all desktop and laptop computers in its German online store as "out of stock," though it continues to sell other hardware and peripherals. Furthermore, all Asus websites are currently inaccessible from Germany, showing a "We'll be back" message.

Retailers are still permitted to sell existing stock of Acer and Asus PCs, but they will not receive further shipments. While such patent disputes often lead to swift settlements, this situation could potentially cause temporary availability issues for affected devices.

The core of the legal battle is European Patent EP2375749, which covers a method for efficiently adjusting frame rates in video streams. Nokia previously used the same patent to enforce a sales ban on Amazon's Fire TV devices in Germany in 2024, a dispute that was later settled. The German court acknowledged that Acer and Asus were willing to license the patent, but an agreement on terms could not be reached. A key sticking point appears to be Nokia's demand for licensing fees based on the entire PC or laptop, rather than just the component handling the video codec, which would significantly increase costs. A parallel case in the UK is considering lower licensing fees.