German court bins Apple’s patent case against Motorola

Following a recent UK court decision, Apple has again lost in its attempt to have a competitor banned. The Dusseldorf court found that Motorola’s Xoom tablet doesn't infringe on Apple's Community design patent for the iPad while oddly upholding the validity of the actual design patent itself.

This outcome is just the latest in a series of setbacks for Apple, the company having failed so far to achieve any significant and permanent ban on its competitor’s products. And bans are what each and every case has attempted to extract, in Apple’s “thermonuclear” litigation programme against Android-powered devices. As Android has constantly increased its lead in market share over Apple’s iOS-powered iPhones, and although no single competitor tablet has enjoyed the success of say, Samsung’s Galaxy S III in the smartphone arena, the danger to the iPad’s media tablet market share is very real to Apple.

Samsung about to prevail in more patent battles with Apple?

Apple’s litigation in Germany against Samsung over alleged infringement of a photo gallery page flip patent, has today taken a turn for the worse. 

The Mannheim Regional Court Judge (Andrea Voss) has issued a stay of proceedings in the case, the likely outcome of which will be that the court will find the patent to be invalid. According to German ‘patent suit’ junkie, Florian Mueller, courts in Germany issue a stay of this nature only if the likelihood of the defendant demonstrating invalidation of said patent are in excess of 80%.

Apple wins patent suit against Motorola in Germany

A regional court in Germany has ruled that Motorola's implementation of its "swipe to unlock" infringes on a patent owned by Apple, although how one can patent swiping on a touch screen beggars belief. Still, the Munich court has sided with Apple and ordered a permanent injunction against certain 'infringing' Motorola devices. Motorola has announced its intention to appeal and while Apple can enforce the injunction virtually immediately, it must put up a bond to do so, with the risk that should Motorola prevail on appeal, the bond would be paid to Motorola in compensation for loss of sales. However, such a bond would be trifling for Apple, considering its US$100 billion cash reserves.

[Update] Apple wins injunction against Tab 10.1. Again...

[Update] Apple has been at it again, with a preliminary injunction awarded by a German court yesterday against the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

If you haven't been keeping up, Samsung got the original ban sent to appeal, based on Apple's community design having been considered "too broad" by the judge. Which might have let Samsung sell the 10.1 in Germany alongside the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, a Germany-only derivative designed to circumvent the original ban.

A new year, a new Apple law suit or two...

Apple succeeded in having the Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned

Unwilling to give up on its campaign to have Samsung's devices banned from Germany, and the EU zone, Apple has filed new suits in the Dusseldorf Regional Court, the very same jurisdiction that recently rejected the iDevice maker's injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N.

Evidently working on the principle that if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, Apple has targeted ten Samsung smartphones in its latest filing, including the Galaxy SII and Galaxy S Plus, thus widening its 'marketing by litigation' programme significantly. It's worth pointing out that by the time the suit plays out, the Samsung models will likely have been superceded and there is little chance that Apple can have a successful ban applied. However, that suggests that this time around, Apple's goal will be to get penalties awarded, something that could be costly to Samsung if the suit were successful.

EU-wide sales ban on 3G iPhone and iPad awarded by German Court

In another reversal for litigation-happy Apple, Motorola Mobility has succeeded in obtaining a ruling banning 3G enabled iOS powered devices across the EU. The preliminary injunction, awarded Friday in the Mannheim regional court, is subject to appeal - something that Apple is certain to do.

Their first act will be to request a stay of the injunction in order to prepare their appeal, an act which will allow the iPhones and iPads affected to remain on the market until the results of the appeal are heard. However, the findings by the court are such that a stay is not automatic and should the preliminary injunction be enforced, Motorola Mobility will be required to pay a 100 million Euro bond as a hedge against harm to Apple should their appeal succeed later. Apple's request for the bond to be set at €2 billion was rejected by the court as manifestly excessive.

Apple tries to get Galaxy Tab 10.1N banned now...

In an apparent case of déja vu, Apple has applied for and been granted a hearing at the Duesseldorf Regional Court on a preliminary injunction to prevent sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N, just introduced on the German market.

The banned Galaxy Tab 10.1

Having succeeded in having the Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned the first time around, Apple's legal eagles are apprently feeling confident that the modified tablet will also suffer the same fate, and Samsung will be forced to stop selling the new hardware in Germany. It doesn't stop there though. There's a probability that Apple will demand a ruling that prevents the 10.1N being sold anywhere in the European Union.

Although Apple would obviously prefer the ban to be immediate, the hearing has been set down for December 22, too late to stop sales prior to the important Christmas shopping season. In the meantime, the pending hearing will have "no effect on sales and distribution of the product" according to an oddly optimistic Samsung.