(Reuters) ? German patent firm IPCom plans to halt as quickly as possible the sale of all HTC smartphones in Germany, another blow to the Taiwanese firm just two days after it shocked markets by cutting its fourth-quarter outlook.
IPCom said on Friday it would enforce an injunction based on a Mannheim court decision from February 2009 after HTC, the fourth largest smartphone vendor globally, withdrew its appeal, which was due to be decided on next week.
"IPCom now intends to execute this injunction in the shortest possible time," the company said in a statement.
"We will use the right awarded by the courts, likely resulting in HTC devices disappearing from shops during the crucial Christmas season."
No one at HTC was immediately available to comment.
"I wonder whether HTC will now pay up or somehow block the enforcement," said German patent expert Florian Mueller.
Germany is one of the largest smartphone markets in Europe.
"This represents an unwelcome distraction during an already difficult quarter for HTC," said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber.
Late last month, HTC warned that revenue would fall by up to 8 percent in October-December from the third quarter, and this week it flagged a much bigger drop, citing tougher competition and the global downturn.
The stock has fallen 30 percent in eight straight trading days.
The popularity of Apple's iPhones and Samsung Electronics's Galaxy line-up, recession-weary shoppers and long-running lawsuits have taken the gloss off what was one of the industry's biggest success stories.
IPCom has battled for years against HTC and Nokia in European courts.
IPCom had acquired Bosch's mobile telephony patent portfolio, created between the mid-1980s and 2000, which includes about 160 patent families worldwide, including some of the key patents in the wireless industry, such as patent 100, which standardizes a cellphone's first connection to a network.
(Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Will Waterman)
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