After several months of rumors, Oppo announces the cessation of its activities in France. Its exclusive distributor Yang Technology is closing its doors and will no longer sell the brand’s smartphones.
End clap for Oppo in France. Or rather for Yang Technology, its exclusive reseller in the territory. Rumors have been circulating about Oppo’s withdrawal for several months, and it is now confirmed. It all started when Nokia accused BBK Electronics (owners of the Oppo, OnePlus and Realme brands) of violating some of its patents and sued it in several countries. From there, things go from bad to worse.
In May, the division of Oppo dedicated to the manufacture of its in-house chips closes its doors. A first hard blow which is not long in being joined by another. A few days later, Oppo withdraws all its products from its German site, signing the end of their sale in the country. This sequence raises fears of a similar fate in other European countries. An unknown remains, however: what will be the outcome of the trial between Nokia and the parent company of Oppo? Judgment has fallen.
The French distributor of Oppo placed in cessation of payment
In a double press release, Oppo announces that it has won its lawsuit against Nokia : “We have received the decisions of the Court of Justice of Paris, the French judge declares that the patents EP486 and EP731 of Nokia are considered null for reason of lack of novelty“. But while this legal victory is expected to raise the bar, the brand announces at the same time that Yang Technology, its French reseller, is out of business. The company is therefore now heading towards compulsory liquidation and the economic redundancy of the employees.
However, she states that “customer service is taken over by OPPO, so all users can continue to use OPPO products, access after-sales services, receive future operating system updates, etc..” Concretely, you will no longer be able to buy Oppo products in France, since Yang Technology will disappear. But customers who already have Oppo products will continue to receive updates.
This situation leads us to several questions. In particular this one: why does Yang Technologies have to cease its activity in France when the lawsuit with Nokia has been won? Oppo may remain cautious about Nokia, which could appeal the decision. In Germany, the Finnish firm has won a lawsuit against Oppo on the same facts of patent infringement. A call in France is a virtual certainty. Or is this hiding a more economical decision?