Tablets

Apple Drags Motorola XOOM into European Dispute

53

The latest development in Samsung and Apple’s ongoing dispute saw the Galaxy Tab 10.1 blocked from sale in many parts of Europe, but the small victory won’t see the maker of the iPad resting on its laurels. In the very same complaint filed in Germany against Samsung, Apple references the Motorola XOOM and its desire to have the competing tablet examined by the same court. A separate complaint filed over the XOOM is mentioned, though it is unclear if Apple aims to deploy the same tactics they have used against Samsung by seeking a preliminary injunction and blocking sales of Motorola’s tablet. Up to this point, Motorola has remained relatively immune to ongoing infringement disputes thanks to a vast portfolio of mobile patents.

[via EuroDroid]

Kevin Krause
Pretty soon you'll know a lot about Kevin because his biography will actually be filled in!

Tegra-Infused Samsung Galaxy R Announced for Asia and Europe

Previous article

Hands-On Video Exposes LG Victor as the LG Optimus Sol

Next article

You may also like

53 Comments

  1. what the hell? Leave the xoom out of this steve. and _|_ you in advance.

  2. Waaaaahh, other companies are making tablets too! Waaaaaahhh. Get over it. You weren’t the first company to make tablets, and you won’t be the last.

    1. I think whoever owns some of the original patents and ideas from Grid Systems, should sue Apple for stealing the Tablet idea, after all they had the GridPad DOS based tablet back in 1989

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRiDPad

      1. Actually Carl go back even further to the Rand Tablet buit in 1964 the Rand corporation should sue Apply for ripping them off.

        1. unfortunately copyright law doesnt last that long. but its true that many tried the tablet idea before apple. anyone remember the failed microsoft tablet pcs of only a decade ago?? hailed as the next big thing but failed to take off

        2. You are both correct. It is HP/Palm that has those patents now.

  3. this is getting crazy, I love android, and i am also a fan of MAC computers, but apple trying to BAN all competition is getting a little out of hand. I understand the type of business model they deploy and its a good one, but suing everyone bc they have a similar idea is stupid.

    1. I was actually considering buying an iPad until this bs started happening. I think both ecosystems have their pros and cons but apple has really dropped the ball for me. By becoming and dealing with nazi’s they have lost my business.

    2. amen to that. i hope apple continues to pull stunts like these and alienate even their own fanboys who have yet to fall completely into their demise.

  4. come on apple… they are going to sue anyone, what a shame

  5. the xoom is not even close to the looks feel of the ipad?? Samsung I could understand but still the governt needs to stand up against this BS…Who does this effect only the consumer and that is BS.

    1. I agree its really starting to show apples true intentions and if judges can’t see this they should be removed from their bench. The xoom looks nothing like an ipad. What a joke this is turning into. Not to mention the xoom isn’t even selling well what’s next acer? Asus? Why not sue every tab manufacturer since clearly you must have patented the square along with the rectangle for phones.

    2. They don’t have to be close. Apple states any device that is rectangular and has equally rounded corners violates their patents. Any device with a full screen that is surrounded by a black bezel does also. Samsung, and now Motorola has to win or we all suffer.

  6. If only one day we could read: “iphones and ipads banned from sale in the US”
    Omg…..that would be a day to remember……

    *starts waiting patiently*

    1. I would also like “impounded and destroyed” added to that.

      They should not allow Apple to import patent infringing products into the US market.

      Apple infringes dozens of patents, and are being sued over it.

    2. Oh, I would also like Macintosh computers added to that list of products.

      HTC purchased S3. S3 has lots of patents on graphics technology. Macintosh computers infringe S3 patents owned by HTC.

      Steve Jobs believes patent owners need to protect their intellectual property and not allow copycats.

      What will happen to Apple if iPhone/iPod/iPad/Macintosh products are impounded and destroyed; and those products are enjoined from being sold in the US?

      What will happen to Samsung if its phones/tablets are enjoined from being sold in Europe and Australia? Will Samsung continue to profit from areospace, jet engines, heavy industry, appliances (washer/dryer), consumer electronics (TVs, etc)?

      Apple might want to reconsider the game they are playing. This is going to get very ugly.

  7. They should sue apple for using a touchscreen to begin with. And a cell phone? They didn’t invent the cell phone, so they should be sued for that too. What’s that? They made it rectangle? My Samsung SCH-i730 from 2005 was rectangle, and it had a touch screen! Sue them! It has a button? They didn’t invent the button! Sue them!

  8. Apple Corporation is in a downward spiral thanks to Steve Blow Jobs and this is the outcome.

  9. This one has got to fail. As a stock Android device if Apple can win this then we all loose.

    C’mon Anonymous, Apple needs to be taught a lesson.

    1. Agreed. Can’t wait for them to hit the Rotten Apple!

  10. Part of the problem is that in America everyone expects to be able to sue anyone else over just about anything…actively encouraged by lawyers of course. Coupled with this the patent sustem there is so loose it is virtually a waste of time. Someone could probably patent a fork or a pencil and get away with it !

    1. Um …. you do know that this lawsuit is being filed in Germany right? And it _worked_ on the Galaxy in another part of Europe (I forget where)? So how did this become “the problem is that in America …”?

      Globally the patent system is borked, and you just look silly trying to justify it as an American problem.

      1. And Samsung wasn’t even notified of the case in Germany until after it was decided by the court. Now that Apple is raking in billions, they are acting the bully, stepping on everyone they deem a threat.

  11. wow…. just wow….

  12. This could actually strengthen Samsung’s case as they’ll point to this showing that Apple are just chancing their arm with all these claims

  13. Apple, Apple, Apple. You really shouldn’t.

  14. What I don’t understand is how apple can sue so many companies, especially on behalf of the iPhone, which they don’t even register as a phone. They register it as a mobile computer, hence why they get away with not changing the charging port. They are absolutely ridiculous they have yet to make anything new and exceptional instead they want to sue and buy patents. When the hell is every manufacturer going to ban together and sue the shit out of them as a collective whole?

  15. They all should sue apple for whatever they can. Don’t mess with my xoom you don’t have a chance, it looks nothing like the ipad. Apple’ What goes up always come down watch it apple

  16. Come On! Somebody fight back against them!

  17. APPLE is trying to remove all its competition using law suits, so apple will be the only one standing.
    Apple must be very insecure about their products when it wants to limit consumer choice by creating a monopoly.

  18. JonPo45, all these comments are pretty much spot on about apple being a big bitch about everyone else making the tablet. But apple is in anything but a downward spiral. for about an hour yesterday they were the largest company in the world above exon mobile. exon closed out the day a little higher than apple at the end of the day. But the fact that apple has all that cash is why they are able to pull these shitty little stunts. It makes me sick to know I’m going to buy another MAc soon and support these cock smokes, but bottom line, they make a damn good computer, and a decent phone, and that doesn’t bother me. the fact that they try and literally kill competition by suing their faces off. whats funny is over on macrumors there is an article posted that apple is dropping LG for their iPad displays, and going with samsung. What is even worse about this is that samsung is going to sell to the people who are blocking the sales of their best tablet yet, so that apple can use a better(samsung) product on their iPad.
    http://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/10/apple-shifts-ipad-2-display-orders-from-lg-to-samsung-due-to-quality-issues/

    1. To each their own friend so I wish you well if you buy a Mac. Let me just say that I’m a Graphic designer & it was our business, education, & publishing that kept the Mac alive when it had been abandoned by all. Why did these businesses stay? Because Adobe mainly said this is the best choice & education was practically given Macs to keep their name alive. Now that trend is reversed heavily from Graphic design & publishing. The PC for the last several years has outpaced the Mac for better design & get this… more stable operating systems that are less intrusive. Never thought it would happen as I’ve been in this field for a little over 12 yrs now. But I’ve fully switched to PC for my needs & it works better. Yeah those machines may look good. But Apple has traded quite a bit of functionality somewhere for major fields that stuck with them to now be abandoning them.

      Oh & admittedly price is an issue too.

  19. Always the best saying i ever heard: ” Be careful whos ass you kick today, for that may be the same ass you kiss tomorrow!”

    Apple better think about that…

  20. There’s a limit to how similar two tablets can be. I can understand with an Ipad and a Galaxy Tab, but Ipad and a Xoom? Steve, your crazy!

  21. APPLE screams law suits against competition and leaves consumers with no choices. Incredible insecure company. Wipe out competition clean and create a monopoli

  22. I’m telling you guys. Apple is going to try and get LG at one point, and LG is going to just demolish them. LoL!! LG is such an underdog, but I still love them. :P

  23. And people were afraid the at&t t mobile merge would kill innovation

    Sounds like the only way apple can continue to be innovative is by stopping the sale of products that already do their next “revolutionary” idea

  24. I have two Xooms, and love em. If they would have marketed the price better I think this product would have a been a real threat to Apple. As it stands …. I’m curious what on earth Apple has to worry about… I know I’m in the minority as a Xoom owner, or do they know something about ice-cream the rest of us don’t?

    1. You & me both lol. I bought the Xoom from my Verizon store looking at it side by side with the dubious iPad 2 staring at me. We are both in the minority.

  25. This was quite predicatable. With the law suits launched in different parts of the world, Apple should have found sooner or later a sh!ttiest judge possible, and then use it as a precedent. What’s sad that it was a European judge, who let all this sh!t go through, despite anti-trust laws being much stronger in Europe than in America. Now just watch how Apple will widen the hole, by putting in second, third, and forth fingers.
    And to Kyle Chrestman – there’s such a thing called “social responsibility”. We are no more in an everything-allowed-for-profit capitalism situation. So stop buying the products of a company, if you don’t like it immoral behavior. Look at the isheep teens led by Apple’s example. Do you think they won’t kick you in the face when they get a chance to profit from that

  26. Apple is legitimizing this practice of using procedural gimmicks to torpedo the opposition, even temporarily. A judge not predisposed to favor Apple, and I’m sure the majority are not, might find value in visiting whatever plagues that Apple has wrought back up it, just to keep things fair.

  27. It’s about time these shameless knockoffs get pulled.

    1. sound like a douche

  28. Apple, Apple I hate you!!!

  29. Apple has become just as bad as Micro$haft. They seem to think they own any tablet/smartphone with a touchscreen. If it has a touchscreen and sells well then it is infringing on Job’s IP. It is a bunch of crap and the krout republic seems to agree with them. It is just a bunch of crap. Moto needs to unlock all their boot loaders so they can sell more and then sue apple for infringing on as many of their 17,000 patents as possible.

    1. No dude, they’re wayyyyy worse

  30. Leave it up to the Germans to allow such an injunction. Didn’t the Germans try some other kind of “purification” of sorts back in the 40s?

  31. looks and feel, c’mon guys. The Xoom,Galaxy 10.1 and iPad are all tablets. How different can you expect them to look/feel? The judge needs to look further because if he looks at the Android OS he will see that they are very very different products

  32. So the Apple strategy to get me to buy from them is… Sue everybody else competing for my dollars so that they are the only choice? It’s not working Apple. If anything it is strengthening my resolve to NOT buy anything with your name attached to it.

  33. The Xoom, really, the Xoom?

    WOW….just wow….

    What is it, the black borders and the thickness of those borders? Has Apple actually even seen a Xoom?

  34. …an apple a day keeps another android user away…

    ugh…i’m so mad that i want to give away my 4th gen ipod!

    wait…i got that free from my bank…ugh…i guess i’ll keep it…for now…

  35. if apple was the only smartphone available..ill be using a basic feature flip phone..and i mean it…i never liked apple(s)

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in Tablets