If you are in Germany and want to buy laptops or PCs from official Acer and ASUS websites, sadly you can’t do that right now. Wondering why? Well, ASUS and Acer have been ordered to temporarily ban direct PC and notebook sales in Germany after a Munich court ruled in favor of Nokia in a patent dispute related to the H.265 or HEVC video standard.
Court ruling halts Acer and ASUS direct sales in Germany
The ruling reportedly concluded that both manufacturers infringed standard-essential patents held by Nokia and were not willing to license them under FRAND terms. As a result, the court granted injunctions preventing Acer and ASUS from offering, selling, or importing affected devices in Germany. Not to mention, that’s a major blow in one of Europe’s most important PC markets.
For the uninitiated, HEVC is deeply embedded in modern hardware and software, from integrated and dedicated GPUs to media engines and operating systems. In practical terms, this means a large share of current laptops and desktops are impacted, not just a handful of niche models.
According to reporting by German news outlet HardwareLUXX, Acer has temporarily halted sales of notebooks and desktop PCs through its official German store. This means you can only buy monitors and accessories from Acer’s website if you are in Germany. ASUS product pages for many systems in Germany are also no longer accessible in a standard retail format, effectively halting direct sales.
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Retailers can still sell the laptops
It’s important to note that the ruling only affects the manufacturers, not retailers. This means that online retail platforms such as Amazon and large electronics chains can still sell existing inventory. However, without fresh supply from Acer and ASUS, stock might be hard to replenish in the coming weeks if the legal situation remains unchanged.
The dispute revolves around multiple European patents that cover key video compression techniques under the HEVC standard. In 2025, Nokia filed lawsuits against Acer, ASUS, and Hisense. While Hisense reportedly reached a licensing agreement, the issue with Acer and ASUS has escalated into a temporary sales ban.
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Both companies are expected to appeal the ruling and continue negotiations. Whether this turns into a prolonged standoff or a licensing deal similar to Hisense remains to be seen. Whatever might be the case, we’ll cover it for you so that you stay updated on the matter
