Apple iCloud Found to be Infringing on Motorola Patents, German Court Rules
Motorola just won an important victory in German courts, if FOSS Patents is reporting accurately. The patent in play is Europe-based and is described as a “multiple pager status synchronization system and method” and is found to be infringed upon by Apple’s iCloud service.
The famous judge who’s been dealing with all these Apple suits, Andreas Voss, has ruled a permanent injunction on the service and gave Motorola room to enforce a ban on any products using iCloud immediately if they can post a 100 mill euro bond.
Although this is a permanent injunction Apple will have a chance to appeal but won’t be able to affect Motorola’s enforcing options (which could be almost immediately) at the current moment. The injunction would only be valid in Germany.
Apple took another big blow today as they were forced to pull down any 3G/UMTS iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 units, as well as 3G-enabled iPads, from German store shelves as a result of a German result back in December. It’s unclear whether or not Apple has any further appeal options as they’ve already appealed the ruling and failed to get a decision in their favor.
For all we know, that injunction will last until Motorola wants it to, whether that be for a few months or forever. It’s an interesting day in the patent world, indeed. [FOSS Patents 1 | 2]