Chinese smartphone Company Oppo has been kicked out of the lucrative German smartphone market after they were accused of stealing Nokia patents for their mobile phones that are sold at mass retailers in Australia.

The Chinese brand has been under pressure in Australia as consumers become concerned as to whether content on Oppo smartphones, is being sent back to China and how much access the Chinese Communist Party has to the brands operations now they are facing the possibility that they could also be banned in Australia.

Kicked out of Germany information about the Companies products have been stripped from Oppo’s European web site.

This is a major blow for the business as Germany is one of their most successful markets outside of China. Oppo first entered Europe in 2018, and positioned Germany as a key market in the region.

Germans now have no way of browsing for information on the devices they already own, instead they are greeted with a brief message saying, ‘No product information is currently available’.

Oppo cane unstuck after they lost a court case with Nokia who after discovering unlicenced software on Oppo devices worldwide, filed a complaint charging Oppo with using its technological patents without paying for a license.

In August as reported by ChannelNews, a German court halted sales of Oppo smartphones.

Nokia is believed to be filing additional suits in other countries including Australia.

This could result in Oppo smartphones being dropped by retailers in several markets around the world.

Billy Chan, Oppo’s vice president of international sales, said Europe is a key geographical region and that his company will provide customers with innovative products going forward, he made no mention of what technology was set to be used by the Chinese Company to replace the Nokia patented software.

German is not the first market where Oppo has come unstuck, they have also faced problems in India a market they entered in 2014.

The local Oppo business ended up being fined $550 million by the Indian Government because of tax issues.

The fine was part of a series of enforcement actions India has launched against Chinese smartphone makers.

In April, Indian authorities said they seized $725 million from another questionable Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, whose products are distributed in Australia by Panmi.

In Australia Oppo owners BBK Electronics launched Realme claiming they were the fastest growing smartphone brand in the world.

When ChannelNews questioned the claims, we asked four of the leading smartphone research Companies including IDG, and Gartner they said that the brand was “not on their radar” and that the brand was definitely not the world’s fastest growing brand.

We also discovered that early Realme devices being sold in Australia were not certified for this market.

Vivo, is another smartphone brand owned by BBK they operate under separate management teams but are close to the Oppo management team in Australia.

Oppo, was punting on the Chinese market to replace lost sales in India after consumers in this market rebelled against Chinese brands because of the conflicts between China and India.

The only problem is that China’s smartphone market is expected to slump to a 10-year low this year.

Oppo also faces stiffer competition from other makers of budget phones including Samsung and Apple and a surging Motorola in markets such as Australia.

The company is now directing its focus to the Middle East and Africa in an effort to grow market share lost in other foreign markets.

Oppo signed a memorandum of understanding last month with the government of Egypt to build a smartphone factory there. I

t will initially invest $20 million in the plant, whose annual capacity is expected to reach 4.5 million units and will use the new production hub to expand sales in surrounding countries.

In Latin America, Oppo is being beaten in most markets by Motorola.

The company recently launched the Global Community platform, containing online spaces where users can obtain and share information about smartphones, in an effort to grow its customer base.

“No matter what obstacles we face, we can solve our problems by pushing forward,” Oppo CEO Chen told Chinese media.