iPhone 13, iPhone 12 BANNED in this country! Shocking reason behind this, check it out

iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 are among the few Apple products that are banned in Colombia. Check out the legal reasons behind the ban.

iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 sales have been stopped in Colombia. ((HT Tech/Amritanshu Mukherjee))

While Indian authorities are busy cracking down on Chinese smartphone makers, Colombia has gone a step ahead and banned Apple to sell the extremely popular iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 in the country. Yes, a court in Bogota, Colombia has prevented Apple from selling all its devices with 5G connectivity, which include the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, and even iPad models with 5G connectivity. The ban was applied after the court granted Ericsson a preliminary injunction against Apple.

Hence, not only Apple will not be allowed to sell its 5G iPhones and iPads in the country, it also won't be allowed to import any new stocks and even advertise these products. The ban was applied on the matter of the new licensing fees for some Standard-Essential Patents (SEP) relating to 5G with Ericsson. It is said that Apple accepts the validity of the patents but the licensing fees is too high.

5G iPhones, iPads sales banned in Colombia

The preliminary injunction means that Apple is now allowed to sell the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series devices in Colombia, along with the 5G iPad models. The court also directed the local customs authority to block imports of the new stocks of these products. Apple has also been directed to reach out to online and offline stores to stop advertising these iPhones with immediate effect, and even stop the sales of the devices that are already in stock.

The court also applied anti-antisuit injunction on Apple, which means Apple cannot appeal to any other court outside Colombia to pressurise Ericsson from removing these bans. Apple in its defense says that Colombia is yet to get any 5G networks and hence, having the ban in place makes no sense as the 5G components are still unused. The court however said that with 5G trials coming, people may be testing the 5G iPhones and iPads, thereby infringing the patents.

The ban comes at a time when Apple is readying the next generation iPhone 14 series for a global launch within a few months. Apple has also just released the beta version of the iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and macOS Ventura for the public to test and try out the new version of its software.