Motorola wins major injunction against Apple's iPhone, iPad in Germany
Motorola's victory relates to European Patent 1010336 (B1), entitled "Method for Performing a Countdown Function During a Mobile-originated Transfer for a Packet Radio System." According to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, the patent was declared essential to the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) standard.
"The ruling generally relates to all Apple products that implement the patent-in-suit," Mueller wrote. "The ruling notes that, 'inter alia,' this includes the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G. But the iPhone 4S, which was released after this litigation started (April 2011), undoubtedly implements the same telecommunications standard."
Friday's decision is the first substantive ruling in the court battle between Motorola and Apple. A month ago, Motorola won a default judgment in the same German patent case, but the ruling was declared largely procedural, and did not affect sales of Apple products.
But Friday's ruling will force Apple to make a move. One option for the company is to modify its products by removing the patented feature to avoid further infringement.
"It remains to be seen whether this is a commercially viable option for Apple," Mueller wrote. "This feature could be somewhat fundamental to wireless data transfers in general."
It's likely that Apple will appeal the decision to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court and request a stay for the remainder of the appellate proceedings, Mueller said. Or Apple could attempt to license the patent included in the suit.
137 Comments
". . .preliminarily enforceable against Ireland-based Apple Sales International in exchange for a ?100 million ($134 million) bond unless Apple wins a stay"
$134 million is a far cry from the billions mentioned as a potential bond.
It's still a sweet result. SWEET.
I don't like those injunctions, is better to pay damages if the trial is lost
So Apple should just have to license it with a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner.
So Apple should just have to license it with a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner.
Well Motorola asked them to license the patent in 2007, so they may get awarded damages back till then, and not necessarily at the FRAND rate. Could be expensive for Apple - they should have just licensed it in 2007.