A German regional court has backed a ban on push emails in Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe services in Germany, according to the “Wall Street Journal” (http://macte.ch/hYwrP).
The Mannheim regional court agreed with an earlier court decision that restricted the company from delivering the service due to an ongoing patent lawsuit with Motorola Mobility. Apple will apparently have to pay damages to Motorola Mobility, although how much it will cost the company is unknown. And the company has told German iPhone customers that e-mail can no longer be “pushed” to their phones through their iCloud or MobileMe services.
“Due to recent patent litigation by Motorola Mobility, iCloud and MobileMe users are currently unable to have iCloud and MobileMe email pushed to their iOS devices while located within the borders of Germany,” the company says on a support page (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4208?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US). “Affected customers will still receive iCloud and MobileMe email, but new messages will be downloaded to their devices when the Mail app is opened, or when their device periodically fetches new messages as configured in iOS Settings. Push email service on desktop computers, laptop computers, and the web is unaffected, as is service from other providers such as Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.”
All this is part of an ongoing legal battle between Apple and Motorola Mobility over alleged patent infringements. Apple says it believes Motorola’s patent is invalid and is appealing the decision.
