Google just lost the right to sell its Google Pixel 7 series after a recent patent dispute with Korean mobile phone company Pantech. According to a district court in Japan, Google was found guilty of infringing a patent related to LTE connectivity.
Pantech filed a lawsuit against Google, arguing that the tech giant used the exact same technology described in a patent belonging to Pantech. The patent relates to how the LTE modem in Pixel phones communicates with the cell towers. The patent, however, wasn’t licensed under fair and reasonable conditions.
As a result, the Tokyo court ruled that Pixel 7 phones should be removed from the shelves since Google refused to cooperate. The company refused to pay a reasonable royalty fee and also refused to provide data on the number of Pixel 7 phones sold in Japan.
The Japanese market is very important for Google because it is the second-largest smartphone vendor in the country after Apple, surpassing the likes of Samsung and Xiaomi.
Pantech is now filing another lawsuit against Google, targeting the more recent Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series, so unless the two companies reach a compromise these two might face the same fate.