Following a ruling by a German court, Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC may face a sales ban of its smartphones and other mobile devices in Germany, adding another page to the company's rough history of sales issues and plummeting market share. The ruling comes after a lawsuit by Acacia Research Corporation, a U.S.-based patent licensing firm which sued HTC over unlicensed use of standard-essential patents - patents which affect standard mobile technologies, and regulate how companies can use those technologies to earn a profit.