HTC One Mini banned in the UK

Retailers will not be permitted to sell the HTC One Mini smartphone as of this Friday (Dec 6th) in the UK.

Nokia has triumphed in a patent dispute with rival HTC, ruling that the handset infringes some Nokia-owned patents. HTC had tried to argue that Nokia was not one of its UK competitors – an argument that was resoundingly dismissed.

Even worse, HTC’s flagship HTC One may also be at risk, although the judge in question has granted HTC time to appeal owing to the fact that a potential ban on that model could have a significant financial impact on the company.

Regardless, HTC has agreed to stop importing its devices to the UK until the date of the next legal hearing at the earliest.

HTC is apparently working with its chip suppliers to explore alternative solutions" that would allow it to re-release a version of the phone that would not fall foul of the same patents.