HTC has been handed another blow as sales of its flagship smartphone, the HTC One, will likely see another delay after the Amsterdam District Court granted a preliminary injunction against supply for the One’s microphone components. It was found that the One uses the same microphone components that was “invented by and manufactured exclusively for Nokia”.
The key feature of the technology, which Nokia calls High Amplitude Audio Capture (HAAC) and rebranded by HTC as Dual Membrane HDR, is a microphone that has two sensitivity levels which allows it to record up to 140 decibels with no audible distortion. In a public statement, Nokia states that the same components were found in the HTC One, but the Taiwanese company has “no license or authorization from Nokia to use these microphones or the Nokia technologies from which they have been developed”, and calls on HTC to “compete using its own innovations and to stop copying from (the company)”.
Nokia adds that this is the latest of a series of alleged infringements by HTC. As it stands, Nokia has filed patent infringement lawsuits for over 40 patents against HTC.
In a short response, HTC states that the company is “disappointed with the decision”, and “considering whether it will have any impact on our business and (the company) will explore alternative solutions immediately”.
As yet, it is unclear how this injunction would affect production of the HTC One – which has already seen a previous delay over supply issues for the Ultrapixel camera components. It also remains to be seen whether the initial units of the HTC One containing the Nokia technology will be pulled from the market, or HTC reluctantly reaches a licensing agreement with Nokia.
(Source: My Nokia Blog)
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