Following a court ruling in its patent dispute with Nokia over the H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding, HEVC) video standard, Acer and ASUS have been temporarily banned from selling personal computers and laptops in Germany.
According to German tech media outlet HardwareLUXX, the Munich Regional Court ruled that both companies infringed on Nokia’s standard essential patents and refused to obtain patent licenses on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) basis.
Accordingly, the court issued an injunction prohibiting Acer and ASUS from providing, selling, importing, or distributing the devices in question in Germany. Since HEVC technology is deeply integrated into modern hardware and software, this ruling will affect the vast majority of PC and laptop models currently on the market.
Acer has temporarily suspended the sale of laptops and desktops on its official German online store, offering only monitors and accessories; ASUS’s German website also currently has many computer product pages inaccessible, effectively suspending direct sales. Both companies stated that their German websites are undergoing maintenance.
It’s important to note that this latest ruling targets manufacturers, not retailers. E-commerce platforms like Amazon and large electronics chains can continue selling their existing inventory, but they will likely be unable to obtain new supplies until the legal disputes are resolved.
The core of this case involves several Nokia European patents related to HEVC, covering core video compression technologies. Nokia filed lawsuits against Acer, ASUS, and Hisense in 2025. Since then, Hisense has reached a global patent licensing agreement with Nokia, but the dispute between Acer and ASUS continues to escalate.
Neither ASUS nor Acer has issued a statement on the matter, but both companies are expected to appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, negotiations between the two companies regarding patent licensing terms are likely to continue, given that Germany is one of the most important PC markets in Europe.
