Germany bans sales of Lenovo and Motorola devices due to patent infringement

The legal dispute between Lenovo and InterDigital in Germany involves patents owned by InterDigital and used in devices by Lenovo and its subsidiary Motorola Mobility. The patents cover WWAN modules required for mobile Internet access.

InterDigital claims that Lenovo did not pay fees for using their technology, while Lenovo considers the terms unfair. At the beginning of May, the Munich district court ruled in favor of InterDigital. The court ordered Lenovo to stop selling, offering and importing WWAN-enabled devices in Germany. This limitation affects not only Motorola smartphones, but also other Lenovo mobile devices such as tablets and laptops that use mobile networks.

Although the company has already removed the affected products from German websites, retailers may still have stock of the gadgets subject to the restrictions.

A similar story was in the US associated with Apple. Masimo’s complaint, which initially focused on the technology introduced in the Series 6, dates back to June 2021. The healthcare company said Apple has begun hiring Masimo employees, starting with Masimo’s chief medical officer. In the fall of 2020, Apple introduced the Series 6, which featured the SpO2 sensor for the first time. Until January 17, 2024, sales of Apple smart watches were banned for some time in America. However, a federal appeals court has decided to reinstate the ban on the sale of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the US while it considers a patent dispute.