Oppo has pulled out of France despite winning a patent case there against Nokia.
As Frandroid reports, Oppo’s French distribution partner, Yang Technology, has confirmed that the company’s distribution efforts for the territory are coming to an end.
This doesn’t rule out French customers sourcing Oppo phones from resellers, of course, and nor does it rule out Oppo finding an alternative distributor for the region. Oppo’s French operation has reassured customers that it has stepped in to take over customer service in the country, and that any existing orders will be fulfilled. Other than that, however, the official Oppo distribution route for France appears to have been closed off.
What’s unusual in all this is that the withdrawal comes just as new emerges of Oppo winning its case against Nokia for patent infringement. The Paris Court of Justice rendered Nokia’s petition invalid due to “lack of novelty.”
There were signs that the company was looking to pull out of the French market back in May, when it mothballed its third-party marketing and sales operations teams in the country. Meanwhile, Oppo’s operation in German has been suspended due to a similar patent dispute with Nokia.
All in all, these latest events only serve to strengthen previous rumours that Oppo is looking to withdraw from key European markets, including the UK, Germany, and The Netherlands. Oppo itself has always maintained that it isn’t planning on pulling out of Europe.
It doesn’t look good for Oppo’s case that its current flagship phone, the rather excellent Oppo Find X6 Pro (pictured), hasn’t received a global launch.