Apple wins 'device destroying' injunction against Motorola

Apple, which continues to disrupt the mobile space with its patent litigation, has successfully won a case against rival Motorola, in which a photo management patent was infringed.

The German court ruling said that the "zoomed in" mode for viewing photos on Motorola's Android handsets infringed the Apple-held patent, but not the "zoomed out" mode. EU Patent No. EP2059868 originally derived from another patent, which allowed photos to 'bounce' when they are over-scrolled; because people will attempt to claim anything nowadays.

FOSS Patents author Florian Mueller understands that Apple could order the destruction of devices if it chooses so.

"If Apple enforces the ruling, it can even require Motorola to destroy any infringing products in its possession in Germany and recall, at MMI's expense, any infringing products from German retailers in order to have them destroyed as well."

Having said that, Motorola played down the fears that devices could be subject to such ghastly ends by saying that doesn't expect the ruling to affect future sales, and that it has "implemented a new way to view photos", reports Bloomberg with a spelling mistake.

While Motorola can continue selling the devices, it did not comment on Mueller's comments that would lead to ultimately the mass graves of Motorola phones. Motorola has said that it has already sought a workaround to prevent its smartphones from infringing Apple's patent, thus rendering the court's judgement effectively useless.

It appears from this, that not only is Germany a hot bed of patent activity, litigation --- and frankly, trolling --- but while one company sues another, the defendant in each case is more often than not forced to simply modify the software of the phones.

If you thought the patent wars were all in Apple's favour, you would be wrong. It was just over a week ago when Apple pulled the plug on its iCloud and MobileMe push email feature within the borders of Germany, after Motorola won a patent claim of its own.

Image source: Alex E. Proimos/Flickr.

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