Motorola wins permanent injunction against Apple's iCloud in German court

[zerocool84]

There's another legal brouhaha brewing in Germany, where Motorola today won an injunction against Apple's iCloud. In a decision handed down from the infamous Mannheim Regional Court this morning, Judge Andreas Voss issued a permanent injunction against Cupertino's cloud-based service and any devices that use it, following a complaint that Motorola originally filed in April of last year. The two companies, as you may recall, have been going at each other rather aggressively in Germany, where Motorola scored a similar victory, back in November. At issue in today's ruling is a European Patent that outlines a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method," upon which iCloud, Motorola claims, infringes. The injunction, as FOSS Patents explains, targets Apple's Ireland-based European distribution branch, but it only applies to the German market -- not Europe, as a whole. And while it's technically "permanent," it's still "preliminarily enforceable," which means Apple can (and likely will) appeal. Motorola, meanwhile, can seek to enforce it, if it's willing to post a €100 million bond. Apple had been seeking a bond of €2 billion, but was ultimately denied. For more of the legal nitty gritty, check out the source link below.

Update 1: Citing a statement from Apple, Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency is now reporting that the company has pulled the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4 from its German online store, along with any 3G/UMTS-enabled iPads. The move appears to come in response not to today's ruling, but to a decision issued in December, when Motorola won an injunction against Apple, on the grounds that its 3G/UMTS technology infringes upon one of Moto's European patents. According to FOSS Patents, Apple presumably lost its appeal to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, after Motorola sought to enforce the injunction.

Update 2: Apple has formally responded to each of today's events, confirming its plans to appeal the court's ruling on iCloud, and explaining its reasoning for pulling its products. "Apple believes this old pager patent is invalid and we're appealing the courts decision," the company said in an e-mailed statement to PaidContent. As for the 3G/UMTS case, Apple says it's still lobbying for a reversal, and that the pulled devices are still available at brick-and-mortar retailers within Germany. "While some iPad and iPhone models are not available through Apple's online store in Germany right now, customers should have no problem finding them at one of our retail stores or an authorised reseller," the statement reads. "Apple is appealing this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago."

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/03/motorola-wins-permanent-injunction-against-apples-icloud-in-ger/

Ouch, this is definitely a big blow to Apple in the Patent Wars.

 

[Red Storm]

YAPT

The system is patently stupid. ™

 

[corkyg]

About time!

 

[Oyeve]

Applesause. Muahaha!

 

[bearxor]

I'm very anxious for all these rulings to start coming in.

The faster they come, the faster we can get to those all-important, and inevitable, cross-licensing deals.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I still think all these patent wars are dumb but maybe this will make Apple think twice about throwing lawsuits left and right stepping on toes.

 

[cronos]

It's OK, there's always Samsung.

 

[cheezy321]

Apple is the only company in the world that deserves these injunctions against them. They should think twice about abusing the court system the same way their competition does.

 

[poofyhairguy]

They should think twice about abusing the court system to try to wipe Android off the map. Google apparently is willing to do what is needed to make Apple really pay for this plan.

FIFY

 

[goog40]

The injunction has already been suspended.

”All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly” the company told us in a statement. “Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

Motorola had succeeded in having most of Apple’s 3G-enabled range blocked from sale in Germany after a ruling last December, with the injunction going into effect earlier today. However, Apple managed to have the injunction suspended amid claims that Motorola refused to license the 3G/UMTS patent in question under FRAND terms.

Those terms – “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” – mean that Motorola must agree to license the patent, deemed necessary to 3G/UMTS standards, to anyone who requests it. Motorola runs the risk of encouraging unwanted attention from the European Commission if the company is believed to be not playing by FRAND rules; Samsung is under antitrust investigation over similar behaviors.

 

[cheezy321]

FIFY

Ahh so googlerola is the good guy looking out for all of our best interests and apple is the evil empire. Awesome.

Do no evil indeed.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I suspect moto will get in trouble because of the frand status.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Ahh so googlerola is the good guy looking out for all of our best interests and apple is the evil empire. Awesome.

Do no evil indeed.

I didn't say that. I said that Google was willing to make Apple pay for its strategy of trying to beat Android in the courts rather than in the market.

What is in our best interest as consumers is for all of them to lose all these cases so we get the devices that are the best they can possibly be without being held back by patents.

 

[QueBert]

I didn't say that. I said that Google was willing to make Apple pay for its strategy of trying to beat Android in the courts rather than in the market.

What is in our best interest as consumers is for all of them to lose all these cases so we get the devices that are the best they can possibly be without being held back by patents.

Apple is beating Android in the market though, they have the 3 best selling phones in the USA and are currently raking in 90% of the mobile app money. In the end they're making way more money than Google, and isn't that all a company gives a shit about when all's said and done?

 

[you2]

Soon there will be a perm injunction against life in Germany.
-
While I'm happy to see someone beat apple at their own game; i think the whole thing is gone too far (mind you apple started this crap with, imho, some truely silly patents).
-
btw I'm not sure what to make of QueBert comment; yes apple is making >>>> more money than google on mobile devices - but they are not selling more units.

There are many ways to view this from out right excessive pricing by apple to google 'sharing' the wealth.

I noticed that in both verizon and at&t earnigns they talked about the impact of apple's whole sale prices had a big negative impact (no comment on android other than they sold more units).
-
Anyways - it will be amusing to seee where things go from here but hopefully no small players (those who cannot afford the court cost) will get suckered into the fight.
-
Other than the silliness of the whole thing the saddest part is the amount of money the lawyers are making.
=-
Maybe I should be investing in some of the lawfirms 🙂

 

[TuxDave]

I didn't say that. I said that Google was willing to make Apple pay for its strategy of trying to beat Android in the courts rather than in the market.

What is in our best interest as consumers is for all of them to lose all these cases so we get the devices that are the best they can possibly be without being held back by patents.

I disagree that removing patents will enable consumers with the best devices. Without the protection for your IP, there is much less financial motive to innovate. Instead it's far better to just copy.

 

[zsdersw]

Ahh so googlerola is the good guy looking out for all of our best interests and apple is the evil empire. Awesome.

Do no evil indeed.

Sorry, all of us don't hump Apple or their products like you do.


Warning for inappropriate personal insult. This is an inappropriate comment for a technical forum.

Moderator PM

 

[Mopetar]

The injunction has already been suspended.

That was uneventfully fast. Even if it hadn't been, it seems as though the ruling wouldn't have covered the iPhone 4S, so outside of blocking iPad sales, I'm not sure how much it would have hurt Apple.

 

[Mopetar]

I disagree that removing patents will enable consumers with the best devices. Without the protection for your IP, there is much less financial motive to innovate. Instead it's far better to just copy.

While this is true, when patents have an unreasonably long lifetime, they stifle innovation just as much. Some of the patents being thrown around in these various suits are from the mid-90's. Those should definitely have expired by now.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

While I'm happy to see someone beat apple at their own game; i think the whole thing is gone too far (mind you apple started this crap with, imho, some truely silly patents).

I'm pretty sure it was Samsung who started all this (in Australia).

btw I'm not sure what to make of QueBert comment; yes apple is making >>>> more money than google on mobile devices - but they are not selling more units.

Ummm. And that is bad because?

I noticed that in both verizon and at&t earnigns they talked about the impact of apple's whole sale prices had a big negative impact (no comment on android other than they sold more units).

Negative impact on quarterly earnings now, but they will recoup over the 2 year contract.

 

[cheezy321]

Sorry, all of us don't hump Apple or their products like you do.

You shouldn't focus so much energy on hating a company. Based on your posts in this forum, you have a clear vendetta against apple. Why don't you instead focus on the positives of android? Like they say, haters gonna hate. You are just background noise in the crowd of phandroids.

 

[zsdersw]

You shouldn't focus so much energy on hating a company. Based on your posts in this forum, you have a clear vendetta against apple. Why don't you instead focus on the positives of android? Like they say, haters gonna hate. You are just background noise in the crowd of phandroids.

You shouldn't focus so much energy on defending a company. Based on your posts in this forum, you have a clear love of Apple. You are just background noise in the crowd of Apple worshippers.

 

[zerocool84]

Apple is beating Android in the market though, they have the 3 best selling phones in the USA and are currently raking in 90% of the mobile app money. In the end they're making way more money than Google, and isn't that all a company gives a shit about when all's said and done?

It's been said time and time again, Google's strategy is not the same as Apple's. Google doesn't make money on each handset sold. They make money indirectly. You act like Google isn't raking in the cash either. Oh and fyi, there's more to the world than only the USA.

 

[bearxor]

It's been said time and time again, Google's strategy is not the same as Apple's. Google doesn't make money on each handset sold. They make money indirectly. You act like Google isn't raking in the cash either. Oh and fyi, there's more to the world than only the USA.

Bingo. Apple and Google aren't even playing the same game.

Ecosystem vs Advertising.

 

[Anonemous]

Ban was lifted.