Apple scores a major victory against Motorola Mobility in Germany [Updated]

Apple and Motorola Mobility have been butting heads for the past couple of months, with both sides scoring victories against one another in what appears to be a never-ending patent war. However it looks like this time round Apple might have scored what some are saying is a major victory against Motorola Mobility.

It seems that the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court has suspended the enforcement of a ruling set by the Mannheim Regional Court, which means that Motorola Mobility will no longer be able to enforce the injunction that they had scored earlier on against Apple back in December over a UMTS patent, with the courts stating “At the current state of the proceedings, it is to be assumed that Motorola Mobility would violate its duties under antitrust rules if it continues to ask Apple to stop the sales.” Ultimately this means that Apple’s 3G products are safe for now.

For those who might have missed the news or who might have forgotten, back in December, Motorola scored a victory against Apple when they managed to land a preliminary injunction against Apple’s 3G products, like the iPhone and 3G iPads. This resulted in Apple pulling the affected devices off their shelves, but barely a week later, they were back on sale as Apple had argued that Motorola Mobility had refused to license the essential patent on fair terms.

However all is not lost for Motorola Mobility as they have managed to get Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe services suspended in Germany for now. Both Apple and Motorola Mobility have yet to comment on this recent ruling. Detailed information about the recent ruling can be found at FOSS Patents.

Update – Motorola has since released a statement regarding the ruling on the case:

“We believe that inventors should be paid for their innovations, and the Appellate Court in Karlsruhe, Germany has agreed. After years of fruitless negotiation with Apple, Motorola Mobility (MMI) was compelled to bring patent infringement proceedings and enforce a resulting injunction because Apple refused to negotiate a license agreement. MMI’s determination to collect fair compensation for Apple’s use of MMI’s patented technology has now been vindicated by the Appellate Court’s decision, which clarified and confirmed that Apple’s licensing offer to MMI in January is a contractually binding commitment to pay royalties to MMI on all of Apple’s cellular devices.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Tablets
Tags: Legal, motorola mobility