Motorola Wins Patent Case Against Apple in Germany, Can Block iPhone Imports
Motorola Wins Patent Case Against Apple in Germany, Can Block iPhone Imports
Posted 12/09/2011 at 3:32pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
7
Comments
Print
Apple is accustomed to being on the winning side of patent infringement suits, but a new ruling in Germany has turned the tables on Cupertino. The court has found that Apple’s iPhone and 3G iPad products infringe a Motorola patent covering the implementation of GPRS mobile technology. This isn’t the first win for Moto, but this one does give it the legal authority to ban sales of the infringing products in Germany.
Strictly speaking, there would not be a sales ban. The injunction, if Motorola pursues it, would only cover new imports of the devices. Apple took great pains to clarify that holiday sales of the iPhone and iPad will be unaffected by the ruling. Of course, Apple will also be appealing the case. Moto also has the option to enforce a $133 million bond against Apple.
The German patent system is a bit less punitive than in other nations. A simple cash exchange is usually enough to smooth things over. Since the technology in question is fundamental to mobile devices, Motorola is barred from making excessive demands for licensing payments.
More like this
7
Comments
Comments are closed on this article
Engelsstaub
December 09, 2011 at 6:13pm
I use and like more than one Apple product (obviously.) Have to be honest and just say that Apple brought this on themselves.
They have brand-loyalty and above-average customer service with Macintosh and name-recognition and marketshare with iPods/iPads. I don't understand why they continue to engage in asinine practices regarding competition.
Holly Golightly
December 09, 2011 at 5:08pm
Justice well served. Let this be a lesson to Apple for filing a bunch frivolous lawsuits to begin with!
keyzs
December 10, 2011 at 5:27am
The rotten fruit company will never learn!! years ago it had some stint with Creative Technologies on some MP3 player thinngy... they just paid up and told Creative to f-o!!
let's see how they worm themselves out of this now!!
great weekend again!! Cheers!!
NOTE: karma's a bitch!!
warptek2010
December 10, 2011 at 11:12pm
Yeah, also the ironic thing is Creative's ZEN player, in my opnion, is way superior to any IPOD.
CaptainFabulous
December 09, 2011 at 4:48pm
And who owns Motorola's mobile division? Google! If you're really quiet and listen closely you can hear Stevie J. doing 360s in his grave.
athlon11
December 09, 2011 at 5:18pm
Actually as of now Motorola Mobility is still an independent company. The buyout has been approved by stockholders of both companies however it has not cleared any of the regulatory bodies yet.
Eoraptor
December 09, 2011 at 3:48pm
Oh for goodness sakes, will someone please just shoot all the patent lawyers? If this keeps up. no one anywhere will be allowed to have anything more complicated than my LG 231c dumbfone.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy1 day 22 hours ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj1 day 22 hours ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E3 days 19 hours ago
