A Munich court ruling has forced Acer and ASUS to halt direct sales of many laptops and desktop PCs in Germany after a patent dispute with Nokia over H.265/HEVC video codec technology. The injunction, issued January 22, 2026, affects the vendors' German online storefronts and product pages.

Nokia's standard-essential patent claims target video coding patents including EP 2 375 749 and other HEVC portfolio patents asserted across Germany and the Unified Patent Court. The Munich court found Acer and ASUS were not acting as willing licensees under Nokia's FRAND framework, which opened the door to injunctive relief. Hisense avoided similar action by taking a license in early January 2026.

Existing inventory can still be sold through retailers like Amazon, MediaMarkt, and Saturn, but regular replenishment from the OEM channel may be disrupted while appeals play out. The dispute centers on sales and distribution rather than a recall, so existing device owners face no restrictions. Acer and ASUS have indicated plans to challenge the decision, with a negotiated license remaining the most direct path to restoring normal sales.