Amazon Fire TV: These sticks are threatened with a sales ban

• In a ruling, the Munich regional court found Amazon guilty of violating a Nokia patent with some Fire TV devices. Nokia could now obtain a sales ban for the affected devices.
• Amazon, however, accuses Nokia of demanding high license fees for the “standard patent”.
• The Fire TV Stick 4K and 4K Max models are expected to be affected.

The sale of Amazon Fire TV devices could soon be banned in Germany. The Munich regional court found the website IPFray guilty of violating a Nokia patent in a patent dispute between the mail order company and Nokia.

Specifically, it involves, among other things, a patent for video compression, as Nokia explained in a blog post in 2023. This is a so-called “standard patent” that, according to the law, must be licensed under fair conditions. Amazon accuses Nokia of charging too high fees and has therefore not acquired a license.

What does the verdict mean for you?

“We are always willing to pay a fair price for patent licenses and have worked with a number of companies to license video patents of this type. “Nokia demanded more than all of these companies combined and rejected our fair and industry-standard offer,” a spokesman told Netzwelt.

The ruling has not yet had any direct impact. Because Nokia has not yet brought about any enforcement. The manufacturer can only do this against payment of a security deposit, as Amazon has the opportunity to challenge the judgment. Whether Nokia allows the judgment to be enforced will also depend on the amount of security that the court sets. Details on this are not yet known.

Anyone who already owns a Fire TV Stick or Fire TV television can breathe a sigh of relief anyway – the ruling doesn’t affect them. Devices that are in use can continue to be used in the context of enforcement and will function without restrictions. Even getting a replacement for a defective device would still be possible.

Models with HVEC support affected

Amazon points out that even if the ruling were enforced, not all Fire TV devices would be affected by the ban. When asked, the dealer did not want to specify which models would remain on sale. A report from Wirtschaftswoche now provides details on this.

Fire TV devices that support video HEVC (H.265) would be affected. These would be from the currently sold models of the Fire TV 4K Max (2nd Gen) and the Fire TV Stick 4K. Amazon currently only sells the 4K and 4K Max on its website as used models. It is unclear whether this is already related to the ruling from Munich or whether the retailer is preparing to sell a new generation of devices.

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