Overview

• A Tokyo district court ruled that Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro infringe a Pantech patent on a 4G acknowledgement signal method and blocked their sales, imports, advertising and display in Japan
• The presiding judge criticised Google’s conduct as insincere, influencing the decision to impose a full sales ban instead of a narrower remedy
• Pantech has petitioned to widen the prohibition to include Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series devices, with judges yet to rule on those models
• The restriction threatens Google’s second-place position in Japan’s smartphone market, where it holds a 5.81% share behind Apple’s 62.46%
• Google must choose whether to appeal, negotiate a licensing deal or redesign future phones as it prepares to launch the Pixel 10 series