Acer and Asus' German websites are down in wake of lawsuit, but Acer says its own will 'be up again shortly' so customers can get BIOS updates again
Last week, both Asus and Acer were blocked from directly selling gaming PCs in Germany due to a lawsuit from phone manufacturer Nokia. This not only leaves potential customers with fewer choices when it comes to their next rig, but now that the websites are down, they are left without updates too. Or at least without some extra effort.
However, Acer has informed me: "The site should be up again shortly but in the meantime German customers can contact Acer support via the website, or alternatively also download updates here."
As pointed out by ComputerBase, trying to access the German websites for Acer and Asus will greet you with an error message. It seems like this is reliant on your geolocation, so using a VPN will get you around the errors, but it's a sign of how things have progressed since Nokia's case.
Interestingly, ComputerBase also notes that you can access the Asus site in Germany by going through the Chinese version of the site. Users of Acer gear can get around restrictions by using the Swiss Acer support page, then finding whatever update they need from there.
As a chronic 'I swear I'll update it later' PC user, any steps put in between me and my updates will only make me more likely to procrastinate, so I feel for the German public here. You can potentially still buy gaming PCs in Germany, just not directly, so updating will still be a necessary thing for users.
The lawsuit from Nokia alleges that Asus and Acer's PCs (alongside Hisense's smart TV) infringe three of its patents. They are related to the H.265 (HEVC) video code standard. Though Hisense settled the case in January, Asus and Acer are still fighting it. The blocking of direct sales is an injunction from the Munich court.
Notably, the lawsuit does not include monitors, peripherals or graphics from either brand in the region, so the sites going offline is particularly strange.
Users who have bought items not hit in the lawsuit from either brand are also seeing a negative effect here. With Acer set to send a new website live, here's hoping Asus follows suit.
I have also reached out to Asus for comment and will update this story if I hear back.