According to foreign media reports on April 23, Beijing time, Nokia won a lawsuit against STMicroelectronics. In this case, Nokia accused the supplier STMicroelectronics of selling the microphone components it developed to its competitor HTC. The Amsterdam District Court has issued an order prohibiting STMicroelectronics from continuing to sell the microphone component to HTC.Nokia spokesman Brett Young said that STMicroelectronics must stop supplying the microphone component used in the HTC One to HTC because the component was developed by Nokia and could only be produced exclusively for Nokia.He said that the court had issued an order prohibiting STMicroelectronics from selling the component to any manufacturer other than Nokia. He stated in an email: This order takes effect immediately and applies globally, not just in the Dutch market.The headquarters of STMicroelectronics is located in Geneva, but its holding company is registered in Amsterdam.The ruling made by the Amsterdam District Court on Monday was: unless both parties reach a consensus in arbitration proceedings in Helsinki, before March 1, 2014, STMicroelectronics shall not provide this microphone component to any manufacturer other than Nokia. If STMicroelectronics insists on selling this microphone component to other manufacturers, it will have to pay a fine of 50,000 euros (approximately $65,000) for each such microphone component sold, with the maximum fine being 1 million euros (approximately $1.3 million).After discovering that the microphone component it designed was used in the HTC One, Nokia filed a lawsuit against STMicroelectronics. Yang said: HTC used these microphones or Nokia's technology in its own products without purchasing a license or obtaining authorization from Nokia.Nokia stated that, except for the Lumia 520, all of its smartphones running Windows Phone 8 use microphones based on HAAC (High Sensitivity Audio Capture) technology. These microphones can capture audio signals over a wider range than conventional mobile phone microphones because they have two audio channels (or are called dual channels). These microphones are highly sensitive and can not only capture very subtle sounds but also sounds exceeding the regular volume.This microphone comes in single-membrane and dual-membrane models, which Nokia has applied to different products respectively. Nokia stated that the product code of the microphone component used in the HTC One is Tufnell, which is its dual-membrane model, the same as the one used in the Lumia 720, some Lumia 620s, and 822s.Yang stated that HTC not only used this microphone but also claimed it as a selling point for the HTC One. HTC claimed in its promotional materials that this microphone is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) microphone. Nokia demanded that HTC stop copying Nokia's design and compete using its own inventions.An HTC spokesperson said that the company is evaluating the impact of this ruling result on its business. She said that HTC would immediately begin looking for alternative solutions. She added: We expect that this ruling result will not immediately affect our mobile phone sales business.In an email, STMicroelectronics spokesman Michael Markowitz said that STMicroelectronics intends to appeal this ruling. He said: Meanwhile, we are preparing to promote other alternative solutions. He refused to answer other questions.Analyst Pete Cunningham of Canalys said: For HTC, this is clearly not good news. HTC may try to resolve the issue through negotiations with Nokia and STMicroelectronics, or look for other microphone suppliers. Cunningham said, but changing suppliers might not be easy.He said: The sales of HTC's HTC One in the market will definitely be affected to some extent because the market response to this product has been very good previously.However, this ruling result may be worse for STMicroelectronics. Cunningham said that if HTC did not know about the exclusive supply agreement between STMicroelectronics and Nokia, then it has the right to claim compensation from STMicroelectronics. He said, the bigger issue is how other suppliers perceive STMicroelectronics; the court's ruling will have a significant negative impact on STMicroelectronics' market reputation.