HTC played down a victory for Nokia in a German patent lawsuit, stating that it will continue with a pending action to have the patent involved deemed invalid, and will immediately appeal the latest decision.

Nokia said that the judgement enables it to “enforce an injunction against the import and sale of all infringing HTC products in Germany, as well as to obtain damages for past infringement. This is the fourth patent found infringed with injunction awarded in Germany.”

According to the ailing Taiwanese device maker: “The functionality found to be infringed is redundant and no longer in use in Germany and we are investigating modifications for our handsets to remove this redundant technology”.

“This ensures there will be minimal disruption to our customers while we pursue an appeal”, it continued.

The patent involved, EP 1 579 613 B1, “enables modern mobile devices to work in older networks”, Nokia said.

Nokia has asserted more than 50 patents against HTC, and has seen judgements in its favour in Germany, the UK, Japan and the US.