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Topic: Mobility

Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

Summary: Here's a twist: Motorola Mobility has secured an injunction against Apple selling mobile products in Germany.

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

The tables have (allegedly) turned. Motorola Mobility has secured an injunction against the sale of Apple mobile products in Germany, according to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller.

Citing "a copy of what purports to be a default judgment by the Mannheim Regional Court," this would mean that Apple is prohibited from selling any mobile devices that infringe upon on two Motorola patents in Germany.

Additionally, Apple would owe MMI financial damages for patent infringement stemming back from at least April 19, 2003. Wow.

Here are the two patents supposedly in question:

EP (European Patent) 1010336 (B1) on a "method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system"; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 6,359,898

EP (European Patent) 0847654 (B1) on a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method"; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119

The document also stipulates that the court "declared the default judgment preliminarily enforceable," which means that MMI can enforce a ban against any Apple mobile devices sold in Germany. Definitely not good timing with the recent release of the iPhone 4S and the holiday shopping season.

Again, note that this hasn't been confirmed yet. Mueller writes that if the file he received that turns out to "be a hoax, it would be an incredibly sophisticated one."

Neither Motorola Mobility nor Apple have made an official announcement regarding this manner yet.

But if accurate, this would be a major defeat for Apple in its Android-related legal woes in the European Union, which also involve spats with HTC and Samsung.

Related:

Topics: Mobility, Apple

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29 comments
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  • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

    Good, I hope it results in cross licensing for Motorola and Apple products. Then we'll have guaranteed competition. =D
    slickjim
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

      @Peter Perry

      You might get your wish.
      kenosha77a
      Reply Vote

    • Apple started this, so now the shoe is in the other foot

      Its going to hurt.<br><br>Grab that money from past infringement, Payup Oracle and Android is home free (yeah, yeah, its MMI not Google, but if Google does obtain MMI then this is a feasible solution that wont affect the bottom line.). While Apple is dealt a critical blow that would not allow it to sell its products in Germany and the European Union. Thats two loses this week for Apple in Europe. The second one is Spain.<br><br>Apple deserves this and a lot more. No need for cross licensing. Just do things the Apple way. Say no and be done with it. Bye Bye Iphone, Ipod and iPad.
      Uralbas
      Reply Vote

    • Showing your hypocrisy again???

      @Peter Perry Every time Florian Mueller said a word about how Google steals, you would come out b!tch!ng about how he was garbage blah, blah, blah

      Although he was 100% right (about Google) in the past, it is only now, when an unconfirmed allegation from him is out ... now he is a great source for news.

      Can you say the word hypocrite?
      wackoae
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

        @wackoae He is still garbage, but this actually has a judgement backing it, not just one committee.

        This is not unconfirmed, I read it on more reputable sites.

        Yes, you are a hypocrate, there I said it!
        slickjim
        Reply Vote

    • Bummer you got your hopes up.

      @Peter Perry

      After the Verge has the full scoop. Much ado about nothing and has no impact on anything.

      You must be unhappy now.
      Bruizer
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

        @Bruizer Nope, not unhappy at all... Could care less, just hoped for real competition.

        And Motorola wants Apple to license the tech at a fair price... Apple wants a better rate.

        Either way, Moto could have all GSM 3G connected devices of Apple's yanked from the market but they haven't as of yet sought that.

        So please, with all of that coming from Motorola's PR group, please explain how you consider this a win for Apple? They will cross license technology in the end.
        slickjim
        Reply Vote

    • LOL.. Apple Inc lost (they didn't actually defend), but not Apple Germany..

      @Peter Perry ..thing is that Apple Inc. (that doesn't actually sell anything in Germany) preliminarily can't sell anything in Germany.. Apple Germany who actually sells stuff in Germany is still fighting the case.. Apple Inc. didn't actually fight it's case and so by default resulted in the preliminary judgment.. Moto file case against both the parent company and apple germany..

      so kind of a meaningless judgement.. a company that doesn't actually sell anything in the country is preliminarily banned from selling anything in the country.. LMAO.. nice!
      doctorSpoc
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

        @doctorSpoc Yes but you can block the import of the products and as far as Apple not fighting, the claim is that they were pretty sure they would have no opportunity for appeal so let the ruling happen knowing they could then appeal to a different court who might be able to void one of the patents (I don't know if that will happen).
        slickjim
        Reply Vote

      • Something tells me...

        @doctorSpoc Apple would have actually shown up for the trial had that even been a remote possibity.. something tells me that they would have had someone look into that .. lol.. Isn't it likely that Apple Germany imports the items into Germany?
        doctorSpoc
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

        @doctorSpoc Apple Germany can sell remaining stocks, but they cannot get new supplies, according to Bild.

        Also, the Apple eShop in Germany is run by Apple Inc, so they, theoretically, can't sell iOS 3G devices online.<br><br>That said, Apple reportedly released a statement in Germany, saying that the court order banning the sale of Apple 3G products in Germany would NOT affect their ability to sell Apple 3G products in Germany...
        wright_is
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

      @Peter Perry Well sad news to you. Apple let it go because they dont sell any products under that name - http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/4/2539295/motorola-wins-german-patent-injunction-against-apple-but-its-not-what
      browser.
      Reply Vote

  • I know this won't happen but

    It would really be nice if this thought the handset mfr's a lesson, but it won't. All it will do it cause more lawsuits and they will spend a bunch more money and we (consumers) will end up paying more for handsets to finance these stupid lawsuits.

    I am not an Apple hater, but part of me want's to say "how does it feel" to Apple.

    Probably the smartest thing Google will do so far is purchase MMI. They have been making handsets about as long as anyone.
    tgschmidt
    Reply Vote

  • Again this is showing how flawed the patent system is

    So what happens next? Do we get a de facto cold war between Apple, Google and Microsoft? It doesn't seem like it yet, but these three companies have the potential to collude to keep any other competitors out of the market with the threat of frivolous patent infringement lawsuits.
    K B
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

      @K B What if Apple bans Samsung, Motorola bans Apple, then HTC bans Motorola, Sony bans HTC... and NO ONE is allowed to sell phones in Europe? :-) That's about the only way legislators are going to get involved and deal with real reform.
      jgm@...
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

        @jgm@... With the thousands of overly broad patents in circulation covering every microscopic concept of almost anything in the high tech universe, it's almost certain at this point that a full accounting would mean that every major vendor of every meaningful mobile device is in mutual violation of various stuff from other major players and or patent-troll-houses.

        Yep. Gridlock. Everyone is banned from doing anything because no one could ever spend the time and effort to make a functional product that was absolutely perfectly clear of every patent in existence.

        Let's scrap the system and start over. Patents are a completely artificial construct intended to promote innovation and protect small inventors from exploitation by larger better funded corporations. It doesn't appear to be performing that function in any meaningful way at all - so why keep it?
        spark555
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Motorola reportedly secures injunction against Apple in Germany

    According to Apple Insider and to a lesser extent Engadget, this was a deliberate move by Apple to accept a default judgment and fight it on appeal. Apparently the patents in question are FRAND, and the ruling does not actually prevent Apple from selling iPhone and iPads in Germany. Even Motorola Mobility's press release sounds like that of a company just looking for a payout rather than to block sales of Apple products in Germany.
    KPOM1
    Reply Vote

  • It is simple really. Apple Inc does not sell product in Germany.

    Apple Germany does. So while Apple Inc has an injunction, Apple Germany has none.

    Basically, Apple, as a company, decided to defend only one of two identical law suits against the Motorola troll (hey, everyone calls Apple a troll for defending their IP, so why not Motorola?) and did nothing on the Apple Inc since there is no impact to its outcome.
    Bruizer
    Reply Vote

  • Will those screaming &quot;quit stealing&quot; now attack apple?

    After months of hearing people insist that Android, or HP, or Samsung "stole" from Apple, and that Apple's competitors should stop "copying".... will they now attack Apple for having apparently done the same thing, or can we ALL now agree that the patent system is broken, has no relationship to any reality of "stealing" anyone's IP any more, and we should look at a complete overhaul of the broken software patent system?
    spark555
    Reply Vote

    • Nobody stole anything

      The patents in question are licensed from Motorola by Qualcomm, who makes the chips that Apple uses in the phones. It is a principle in law that Motorola cannot collect twice for the same patents.
      Robert Hahn
      Reply Vote
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