Acer and Asus shut down support for PC and laptops in wake of patent dispute ruling, drivers and updates inaccessible to existing customers — German website finds a workaround (Update)
Source: Tom’s Hardware
Image credit: Getty Images
Recent updates
Update 2/20/2026 8:40 am PT: We have added Acer’s statement to Tom’s Hardware below, along with other updates on the situation.
It’s not a fun time to be a computing enthusiast in Germany. Besides the high RAM and SSD prices everyone else is experiencing, both Asus and Acer’s German websites are completely down due to the companies’ recent spat with Nokia over the HEVC codec — meaning customers can’t find any downloads or reach support pages for their hardware (for example, obtaining BIOS updates and drivers).
Computerbase.de first reported the news:
Tom’s Hardware coverage of the dispute:
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It’s not just the German websites that are offline; any German user trying to work around the issue by visiting the US version of the sites will also be redirected to a page stating the sites are unreachable. Using a VPN set to a U.S. location to reach the German sites doesn’t work either. The only recourse is to use a VPN endpoint outside Germany and visit the non‑German websites to find downloads for their wares.
In a further update to the original story, ComputerBase has now confirmed that affected users can obtain drivers for Asus motherboards using the Asus DriverHub (this won’t work on notebooks or NUCs and requires the aforementioned software, as the site is still inaccessible).
- Asus DriverHub: https://driverhub.asus.com/de
The site has also identified a workaround by visiting Acer’s Swiss support website, which is published in German and therefore doesn’t even require translation.
- Acer Swiss support: https://www.acer.com/ch-de/support
Background
The origin of this issue is the recent lawsuit from Nokia against both companies over royalties for the HEVC codec. Nokia managed to get a German court to issue an injunction against both makers, blocking them from “offering, placing on the market, using, or importing or possessing such devices in Germany.”
Germany is the largest consumer computing market in Europe: https://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/europe-personal-computers-market
Statements from the manufacturers
Asus (public statement):
“All after‑sales services in Germany remain fully operational, and existing customers will continue to receive uninterrupted support in full compliance with the current court order,” adding that it is “evaluating and pursuing further legal action to reach a fair resolution as soon as possible.”
Link to the statement: https://press.asus.com/news/statements/public-statement-to-patent-dispute-with-nokia
The fact that the websites are completely down runs counter to this statement. There’s no indication whether email support has also been taken offline, but it is not even discoverable. The blocking also affects German users visiting the U.S. Asus site, which seems excessive.
Acer (statement to Tom’s Hardware):
“Acer respects the intellectual property of other companies and organizations. In accordance with a ruling by the Munich Regional Court between Nokia and Acer we were required to temporarily suspend our sales activities in Germany for the impacted products. At the same time, we are reviewing additional legal options in order to reach a fair solution as quickly as possible. As long as the litigation is ongoing, we cannot comment on further details. Numerous product categories such as monitors, routers, e‑scooters, and accessories are not impacted by the ruling and remain available.”
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Why the broad geo‑block?
While it’s hard to pin down the exact rationale for a complete geo‑block of both German websites and German users, it appears to be an unintended consequence. In theory, the companies would only need to disable their German online stores and stop shipping to Germany from other regions, but the injunction’s wording may be overly broad, prompting a more cautious approach.
Similar situations have occurred with other brands (e.g., Oppo/OnePlus, Vivo, Lenovo), but reports indicate that those companies’ websites were not completely taken offline.
End of cleaned markdown.
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Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.