Thought Leadership
After losing a patent lawsuit, Amazon sees no risk of having to shut down its Prime Video streaming service in Germany. There is “absolutely no risk of customers losing access to Prime Video”, a spokesperson for the company emphasized at the weekend.
On Friday, Amazon suffered a defeat at the Düsseldorf Regional Court against the network equipment supplier Nokia.
According to industry sources, the patent relates to a technology for transferring videos from the smartphone or tablet app to televisions. As the regional court found an infringement of the patent, Nokia can obtain an injunction if Amazon does not deactivate the function in the Prime Video app. However, according to the information, Nokia must provide a bank guarantee of 500 million euros. The function was initially still available in the app on Sunday.
“Prime Video will abide by the terms of this ruling and is currently reviewing its next steps,” said Amazon. Nokia said: “We welcome the court’s decision and hope that Amazon will meet its obligations and agree to a license on fair terms.”
Streaming sticks pushed out of the market
Nokia had launched a series of patent lawsuits against Amazon. In the fall, Amazon stopped selling its Fire TV 4K streaming sticks in Germany after the Munich Regional Court ruled that a Nokia patent had been infringed.
The financial hurdle for an injunction is high. However, in 2019, for example, the chip company Qualcomm deposited an even higher amount of 1.34 billion euros to stop the sale of some iPhone models in Germany after winning a patent lawsuit against Apple.
dpa
