While Indian authorities are busy cracking down on Chinese smartphone makers, Colombia has gone a step ahead and banned Apple to sell the extremely popular iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 in the country. Yes, a court in Bogota, Colombia has prevented Apple from selling all its devices with 5G connectivity, which include the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, and even iPad models with 5G connectivity. The ban was applied after the court granted Ericsson a preliminary injunction against Apple.
Hence, not only Apple will not be allowed to sell its 5G iPhones and iPads in the country, it also won’t be allowed to import any new stocks and even advertise these products. The ban was applied on the matter of the new licensing fees for some Standard-Essential Patents (SEP) relating to 5G with Ericsson. It is said that Apple accepts the validity of the patents but the licensing fees is too high.
The preliminary injunction means that Apple is now allowed to sell the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series devices in Colombia, along with the 5G iPad models. The court also directed the local customs authority to block imports of the new stocks of these products. Apple has also been directed to reach out to online and offline stores to stop advertising these iPhones with immediate effect, and even stop the sales of the devices that are already in stock.
The court also applied anti-antisuit injunction on Apple, which means Apple cannot appeal to any other court outside Colombia to pressurise Ericsson from removing these bans. Apple in its defense says that Colombia is yet to get any 5G networks and hence, having the ban in place makes no sense as the 5G components are still unused. The court however said that with 5G trials coming, people may be testing the 5G
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