Court allows HTC to sell One Mini phone in UK

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp said it would be able to sell its One Mini smartphone in Britain after the Court of Appeal temporarily suspended an earlier ruling banning sales of the phone due to a patent infringement.

The company was told earlier in December that it would have to stop selling the One Mini smartphone in Britain after a court said the product infringed some patents owned by Finnish rival Nokia (Stockholm: NOKI-SEK.ST - news) .

HTC will be allowed to continue to sell the product pending a full appeal hearing next year.

"It is unfortunate that the stay means that HTC can continue to benefit from its unauthorized and uncompensated use of Nokia (Xetra: NOA3.DE - news) innovations," Nokia said on Thursday.

HTC said it would immediately resume shipment of its devices to Britain, adding that it would continue to appeal the ruling but in the meantime would try to find alternative technology for the smartphone to limit any disruption on its future business.

Analysts said at the time of the ban that it would have limited impact on HTC's sales as the One Mini is not its flagship model. Europe accounts for around 20 percent of the HTC's overall sales.