Nokia awarded injunction against HTC for microphone components
I purchased an HTC One from T-Mobile on Friday, and it will arrive at my house today. As I wrote before, the HTC One is the best smartphone I have ever used, and I hope HTC sees success with it. The latest bad news for HTC comes in the form of an injunction granted to Nokia in the Netherlands that is related to the pair of microphones in the device.
The HTC One is a media powerhouse with a unique camera and fantastic display. HTC also talked about their dual-membrane microphones, which are reportedly provided by ST Microelectronics. It turns out that these may have been under NDA and an exclusive for Nokia products. Thus, a court in Amsterdam granted a preliminary injunction against the supply to HTC of these mic components.
I'm not sure if those of us with HTC One devices will see any functionality disabled by a software update or what the remedy might be, but there needs to be a bit more investigation into what is going on here.
HTC may have to pay Nokia some licensing fees, they may have to sue ST Microelectronics if that company provided the parts without HTC knowing they were Nokia property, or I suppose it is even remotely possible that all HTC One devices may have to be recalled.
I understand that these mics may have been used in some other gear, but maybe there were licensing agreements made. HTC needs to hit it out of the ballpark with the HTC One, and it is unfortunate that delays and news like this keep popping up.
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