“Apple knows what it’s like to win injunctions against rivals. It won four of them against Samsung (two in Germany, one in the Netherlands and most recently one in Australia; all of them preliminary),” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents. “Now it seems that Apple has just come out on the losing end of a patent infringement lawsuit. I have received a copy of what purports to be a default judgment by the Mannheim Regional Court barring Apple from selling in Germany — the single largest market in Europe — any mobile devices infringing on two Motorola Mobility patents and determining that Apple owes Motorola Mobility damages for past infringement since April 19, 2003.”
These are the two apparently-enforced patents:
• EP (European Patent) 1010336 (B1) on a “method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system”; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 6,359,898
• EP (European Patent) 0847654 (B1) on a “multiple pager status synchronization system and method”; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119
Mueller reports, “According to the document, this decision can be executed ‘preliminarily,’ which means under German law that Motorola Mobility can enforce this injunction against Apple from now on even if Apple appeals the ruling (which I’m pretty sure it will). That means Apple may temporarily — until a second judgment is entered — be barred from selling any mobile devices in Germany… I don’t know whether Apple thinks that resellers will source its products from other EU markets anyway. A default judgment doesn’t mean that Motorola Mobility can easily shut down resellers since the merits of the case haven’t really been adjudicated.”
Read more in the full article here.
Matthew Panzarino reports for TNW, “According to Engadget, the report has been confirmed by Motorola, who issued this statement: As media and mobility continue to converge, Motorola Mobility’s patented technologies are increasingly important for innovation within the wireless and communications industries, for which Motorola Mobility has developed an industry leading intellectual property portfolio. We will continue to assert ourselves in the protection of these assets, while also ensuring that our technologies are widely available to end-users. We hope that we are able to resolve this matter, so we can focus on creating great innovations that benefit the industry.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tempest in a teapot.
UPDATE: 11:59pm EDT: Engadget reports, “We just got the following statement from Apple regarding the ruling: This is a procedural issue, and has nothing to do with the merits of the case. It does not affect our ability to sell products or do business in Germany at this time.”
MacDailyNews Take: Like we said, much ado about nothing.