Friday, April 13, 2012, 08:30 am

German court upholds ban on Apple's iCloud push e-mail services

By Sam Oliver

Apple will not be able to immediately reactivate push e-mail for iCloud and MobileMe users in Germany, as a local court has upheld a ban on the service in that country.

The Mannheim regional court also determined that Apple must pay damages in the suit with Motorola Mobility, according to Dow Jones Newswires. No amount to be paid, however, was specified by the court.

Motorola first won the court case against Apple's push services in Germany in February The initial decision granted Motorola a permanent injunction against the services included in iCloud and its predecessor, MobileMe.

The lawsuit is related to European Patent 0847654 (B1), entitled "Multiple Pager Status Synchronization System and Method." It is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119, which carries the same name.

Motorola originally filed the suit last April, before iCloud was even announced. After Apple unveiled its new suite of free cloud services, Motorola argued in court that MobileMe is "integrated" into iCloud, and it's just a name change for the product.


Apple has attempted to fight the injunction in Germany, but lost repeatedly. Last month, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, which handles appeals for the circuit where the Mannheim Regional Court lies, also sided with Motorola and upheld the ban.

Google acquired Motorola Mobility last August for $12.5 billion, a deal that was made after Motorola filed its push e-mail suit against Apple. Though it now officially owns Motorola, Google has made no effort to stop any of the ongoing patent disputes its subsidiary has with Apple.