Motorola Mobility has won an initial ruling in Germany that could allow the company to stop Apple from selling the iPhone and 3G-capable iPad models throughout the European Union, reports “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/vkbNY). The court found that Apple’s products violate a patent related to the GPRS data service used over cellular networks, the article adds.
It’s an ongoing case of “he said, she said.” Apple alleges that Motorola infringes 24 of its patents (21 of them with Android-based phones, the remaining 3 with set-top boxes and DVRs), while Motorola previously asserted 18 patents against a variety of Apple products (mostly but not exclusively iPhone, iPad and iPod).
Litigation between the two companies has taken place in several different federal courts — primarily the Western District of Wisconsin and the Southern District of Florida — as well as before the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The two lawsuits came after Motorola sued Apple in October 2010 for patent infringement. Motorola claims that Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and certain Mac computers infringe Motorola patents.
Overall, Motorola Mobility’s three complaints include 18 patents, which the company says relates to early-stage innovations developed by Motorola in technology areas found on many of Apple’s core products and associated services, including MobileMe and the Apple App Store. The Motorola patents include wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization.
— Dennis Sellers
