Apple has won a small but some say important victory in its ongoing patent battle with Motorola Mobility in Germany.
The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court has suspended the enforcement of a ruling by the Mannheim Regional Court. Motorola Mobility will now be prevented from further enforcement of its so-called standard-essential patent injunction against Apple in Germany.
According to a translation of the ruling by blogger Florian Mueller, Motorola may not bar Apple from using its "standard-essential patents" in Germany. "Standard-essential patents" are considered to be patents that are essential to the manufacture of a product; without them, the product can't be made.
In December, a Mannheim judge found that certain Apple products infringe on Motorola patents for data packet transfer technology (GPRS). That prompted the temporary removal of several Apple products from its German online store earlier in January.
According to Mueller, Apple repeatedly appealed the December decision, amending its proposals several times. "Apple knew that MMI was always going to find something to grouse about, but it needed to find out at which point the appeals court would conclude that enough is enough and tell MMI that refusing to accept this proposal is, at least based on the court's preliminary finding, an antitrust violation," Mueller wrote.
In other words, not accepting Apple's proposal would itself be a violation of German antitrust law.
That, in turn, puts Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility in jeopardy, Mueller added.
"This is so huge that it even begs the question of whether Google's strategy for its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility has failed before the deal is even formally closed," Mueller said, arguing that the company should consider paying the $2.5 billion breakup fee and walk away from the deal.
Also this month, meanwhile, the Manheim court granted a permanent injunction against Apple's iCloud push email notifications.
Additional reporting by Chloe Albanesius.