RAZR vs iPhone 4S: Did Motorola Just Win an Injunction Against Apple Products in Germany?

Apple is having a rather bad week when it comes to its patent-based legal obligations. A few days ago we found out that a virtually unknown Spanish Android tablet maker scored a win against Apple in Spain and now we hear that Motorola may have obtained a preliminary injunction against Apple in Germany.

Why aren’t we sure about this? Here’s how Florian Mueller explains it:

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). 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. […]

Should the document that I received be a hoax, it would be an incredibly sophisticated one. It’s hard to imagine anyone with the skill to do this would incur the immense risks associated with the criminal prosecution of forgery of a court document. Also, I contacted both Apple and Motorola Mobility to verify this, and by the time of publishing this blogpost, neither company responded. So they both had their opportunity to deny the authenticity of the document.

So apparently there’s no way of having this ruling confirmed yet, but who would lie about such a thing? Assuming it’s not a “hoax” we wonder what it means for Apple? Well, the company may soon be barred from selling any mobile devices in the region, although resellers will still be able to sell the iDevices which they have in stock or decide to purchase from other markets.

Apparently Apple has been found to be infringing on two patents, one of them which it was able to fend off in the USA – where it’s also fighting against Motorola in courts – based on a FRAND defense. But assuming Apple will put up the same defense in Germany that still leaves one patent up for discussion.

Now FOSS Patents says that Apple may have intentionally delayed firing back against Motorola on this one, but the alleged document shows the preliminary ruling is enforceable which means Apple may have gambled and lost. Subsequently Motorola can, and probably will, bar sales of Apple mobile devices in the country at least until a judge here’s Apple’s appeal.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, not only because this is the first major “minor verdict” against Apple – which in turn enjoyed plenty of minor verdicts in its favor in its fight against Android – but also because Moto and Apple are fighting over similar claims in other areas. And let’s not forget Google’s planned purchase of Motorola may be approved in the future, in which case Google will certainly want to make the most of such legal wins in future legal proceedings.

Posted in: MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGY