In the Netherlands, a court granted Nokia a preliminary injunction against HTC concerning technology surrounding the microphone used in smartphones. Of course, this is not quite near patent territory just yet, but it certainly sees Nokia deal another blow to HTC. The technology involved here would be the same one that is used by HTC in its flagship device, namely, the well promoted HTC One. HTC claimed that the HTC One will come with high-amplitude microphones, but it so happens that this is also the very same dual-membrane technology which Nokia uses in their Lumia range of smartphones that run on the Windows Phone operating system.
Nokia has presented the image that you see above, depicting a similar component that can be found in the HTC One as well as the Nokia Lumia 720. There is one visual difference between the two, being a mere single digit. Nokia has confirmed that “TD V1.4” is Nokia’s own code for the component, while 302 and 307 refer to the manufacturing dates. It seems that this can be classified as a breach of an NDA between Nokia and ST Electronic, as the microphone components were supposed to be manufactured just for Nokia’s exclusive use, and HTC does not have any license to use the components or utilize similar technology. It looks like HTC’s woes look set to continue after two years of a continuous downward spiral. Wither the bottom?