Nokia Exclusive Microphones Used In HTC One

Nokia won an enjoinment against its supplier STMicroelectronics for illegally supplying Nokia-designed microphones to HTC. According to the ruling by the Amsterdam district court, as the microphones were exclusively designed for the Finnish manufacturer, STMicroelectronics is now prohibited from supplying microphones which are presently being used in HTC’s flagship device, the HTC One.

Nokia spokesman Brett Young stated that the decision would come into effect immediately all over the world and not only in Netherlands. STMicroelectronics cannot sell the microphones to companies other than Nokia until March 1, 2014 unless both the parties involved mutually agree to terminate the deal in Helsinki.  STMicroelectronics is a Geneva based company but registered in Amsterdam.  If the company continues to sell the microphones, they can be penalised with €50,000 (US$65,000) for each microphone delivered, with a maximum fine of €1 million.

The microphones in question were found by Nokia in HTC One handsets, without obtaining any authorization to use them from the former. Except the recently released Lumia 520, all Nokia smartphones running on Windows Phone 8 make use of High Amplitude Audio Capture (HAAC) technology microphones. These microphones are advantageous in that they can capture broader audio signals than the commonly used microphones due to the presence of two audio paths or dual channels. Nokia claims that the microphones found in HTC One are the same as their dual membrane version, codenamed Tufnell, which are present in Nokia Lumia 620,720 and 822 variants.

HTC has also been accused of having publicized the microphones as feature called ‘High Dynamic Range’ (HDR). On being asked if the court decision would affect the sales of the high end smartphone, an HTC spokeswoman replied that there would not be any immediate impact on the sales and that they would start exploring alternative solutions immediately. STMicroelectronics is also considering proposing other solutions to the handset maker.

This issue would definitely affect both HTC and STMicroelectronics. While the former has to look for another supplier, there are chances of HTC One losing momentum in spite of the positive reviews it has received. STMicroelectronics may have to provide compensation to HTC if it is found that it hadn’t informed the Taiwanese company of Nokia’s exclusive rights. STMicroelectronics’ reputation in the market is also expected to be affected as a result of the negative publicity.