Will there soon be a ban on the sale of Fire TV Sticks?

As Wirtschaftswoche reports, the Munich I Regional Court has banned Amazon from selling Fire TV Sticks or other streaming devices. The reason for this is a patent infringement. Amazon has infringed a Nokia patent with its sticks. As soon as Nokia pays the so-called security deposit, Amazon must react and remove the products from its range.

The online giant quickly made a statement. Existing customers have nothing to fear from the ruling and there will continue to be a “wide selection of Fire TV devices”. This is because only some Fire TV devices are affected by the ruling. Namely those that use HEVC technology, which is used to decode compressed video content. Fire TV devices that use VCC technology for decoding are not affected by the court decision.

It is interesting that the court made its decision quickly and, above all, clearly. As patent law expert Florian Müller emphasized to Wirtschaftswoche, this could well be interpreted as a “slap in the face for Amazon.” Amazon, in turn, believes the court’s decision is wrong, as it is, after all, prepared to pay “fair prices” for patents. The court, in turn, commented that Nokia had acted fairly in negotiations with Amazon. And Nokia? They hope that Amazon will accept its obligation and pay the license.

Fire TV Sticks are still quite common to buy on Amazon.