- Acer and Asus have run into legal problems over patents in Germany
- This has caused these PC manufacturers’ laptops to no longer be sold.
- On top of that, German buyers cannot access the local websites of these companies for their support needs with existing products.
The situation with Acer and Asus laptops in Germany due to a patent legal issue appears to have worsened, with a worrying new development related to obtaining support for PCs purchased from these companies.
Tom’s Hardware noted that German tech site ComputerBase highlighted the issue where German websites for Acer and Asus are now unavailable – and what’s more, it’s difficult to even find a solution to bypass those blocks in that country.
This follows a court ruling in Germany in a case in which Nokia took both PC makers to court over their use of HEVC (a widely used video compression standard). There are issues with how much Acer and Asus have paid for the use of this technology in their products (which are covered as SEPs or standard essential patents), and Nokia believes the two companies have not contributed enough and the German courts agree.
This issue has been colorfully described on Reddit as a “tire fire of monstrous proportions”, and has led to a blockage of sales of Acer and Asus laptops in Germany, and apparently a knock-on effect on support. Although Asus has previously stated: “All after-sales services in Germany remain fully operational and existing customers will continue to receive uninterrupted support in full compliance with the current court order. Asus is evaluate and take additional legal action reach a fair resolution as soon as possible.
After-sales support is clearly not available on Asus’s German site, and German buyers of the company’s laptops cannot access Asus sites in other regions either. So, for example, if someone in Germany tries to access the US Asus site, they will still be blocked (in fact, redirected to the local walled German site).
Tom Guide’s notes that using a VPN to appear to be from another country will also not work to access Asus’s German website: it is blocked globally.
Of course, you can still access Asus sites in other countries via a VPN from Germany, which is the main workaround that many people will no doubt use.
However, as ComputerBase points out, it’s still possible to visit Asus’s Chinese site from Germany via a Google search (without a VPN). Obviously, you’ll need to use a translated version of the website, but at least you’ll be able to access something. Other reports on Reddit indicate that Asus’s Macedonian website may also work for Germans without a VPN.
For Acer, ComputerBase highlights Asus’s Taiwanese website as functional for those in Germany (without VPN).
Finally, note that some Germans seem to be able to access the Asus website in the country, but they are apparently in the minority. In most cases, it is blocked.
Analysis: A frustrating situation that needs to be resolved quickly
Naturally, this is an unpleasant situation for German consumers. While given the legal dispute, it is understandable why sales (or rather, additional shipments of Asus and Acer PCs, since this will not affect laptops on shelves) could be blocked, the same should not be true of support.
Frankly, it’s baffling that people have purchased hardware that is still under warranty (and support) and suddenly don’t get a service they’ve already paid for. Germans shouldn’t have to fumble around trying to find alternative Asus dark regional websites that work for them, or be forced to download and use a free VPN (if they don’t already have one) to get basic support.
If you have an issue with your laptop that requires, say, a new driver download or some kind of update, it’s not at all okay to not be able to access that support just because of a legal dispute. One that has nothing to do with the transaction he made with a laptop manufacturer.
Especially since Asus has said that existing buyers will receive “24/7 support,” which clearly isn’t happening. Is this a consequence of Asus’ legal team having instituted some precautionary policy regarding the patent case? Is it an oversight? I don’t know, and we can only assume; Another possibility is that perhaps the wording of the injunction is particularly broad, as Tom’s Hardware theorizes. Whatever the reason, it’s a perplexing situation, to put it mildly.
Yes, it is a problem unique to Germany, and that country has a stricter stance on complex patent issues like this. But it is still a move that should concern all consumers in terms of how basic rights in terms of receiving support for an expensive technology purchase have seemingly been pushed aside, at least for the moment.
Hopefully, we’ll hear more from both laptop makers about the situation before long, because it needs to be resolved.
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