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Both Acer and ASUS have taken down their German websites and support portals, meaning customers in Germany can’t access official downloads like drivers, BIOS updates, firmware or manuals right now. This includes pages normally used for PCs, laptops, motherboards and related hardware.
The cause is a patent dispute with Nokia over the HEVC/H.265 video codec. A Munich court granted an injunction after finding that both companies hadn’t secured licence terms Nokia considers fair (FRAND), and this has triggered a temporary ban on direct sales of affected PCs and laptops in Germany.
According to reports, the shutdown/geo‑blocking applies broadly to the German sites, so visitors can’t reach tech support content — even when trying to use other regional versions — unless they use a VPN with an exit outside Germany.
Non‑PC products like routers, monitors, scooters and other accessories are reportedly not part of the legal action, so in theory their support pages shouldn’t be affected. But because ASUS’s German portal is currently down entirely, German customers might see blocked access to router firmware downloads or support pages too until the main site is restored or bypassed.
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
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