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.

Apple fails to obtain injunction against Motorola in the US

Image: Todaysiphone

Claims by Apple that Motorola's Droid line of Android powered smartphones infringe its patents were rejected by US regulatory body, the International Trade Commission in the last 24 hours. The results are another blow to Apple's "marketing by litigation" approach to marketplace competition. Had the decision gone Apple's way, there's little doubt that the iPhone maker would have pressed for a total ban on sales of the supposedly infringing Droid handsets in the 'States, a catastrophic result for Motorola. Fortunately though, the ITC concluded that Apple's claims were bogus and the Droids live on in the US of A.

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 fails to re-establish Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban in Oz

The contenders face off in the stores for a change

Despite Apple gaining a further week's continuance of the injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to plead their case for an appeal hearing, the Australian Federal Court has today denied that plea. As a result, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be on sale in time for Christmas. A week ago, the Court found that in granting the temporary ban in the first place, the original judge hadn't properly considered the evidence, however Apple's lawyers used the legal system to extend the injunction for a further week, supposedly seeking "special leave" to appeal the appeal, and in doing so surely caused more financial harm to Samsung in the lead up to Christmas.

Apple fails to halt Samsung Galaxy sales in US

A District Court judge in the US on Friday refused a preliminary injunction request by Apple to halt sales of three Galaxy S based smartphones and its Tab 10.1 tablet, stating that the Cupertino gadgeteer had failed to convince her that it was likely to succeed in achieving a permanent ban.

Without such likelihood, the judge found that there was a possibility that a wrongful market withdrawal would result. The upshot is that Samsung would be disadvantaged in the market, something she was apparently reluctant to countenance. She also found that Apple had failed to convince her that it would be “irreparably harmed” if a preliminary injunction were not granted. 

The iPad patents she believed to be such that they were likely to be found obvious, and Samsung's case that the patents were invalid, had merit.

Adding weight to the increasing realisation that lawsuits are now a defacto part of Apple's standard marketing operation, self-styled IP guru Florian Mueller was moved to pronounce “If Apple wants to defend market share against Samsung... it really needs to focus on solid technical patents instead”, something that will be less attractive than the “look and feel” suits the iPhone maker has preferred up to now.

It's said that there would be less likelihood of Apple achieving preliminary injunction bans on its competitors without the "irreparable harm" claim being accepted, a hard row for Apple to hoe when technical infringement is the point of argument. Apple might have to resort to actual advertising. Quelle horreur!


The full case between Apple and Samsung is docketed to begin July 30 2012.

Source: PC World

Aussie court overturns Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban...

The Australian Federal Court today reversed Justice Annabelle Bennett's decision to block sales of Samsung's flagship Android-powered tablet. While the court decision has gone Samsung's way, Apple has, as expected, requested leave to appeal the decision. Invoking something called a "stay of orders", the court has decided to retain the original injunction until Apple presents its appeal on Friday afternoon.

The reversed decision announced today effectively found errors in fact or in law that Justice Bennett made during the original case, and will mean that Samsung will be able to sell the Tab 10.1 in spite of Apple's attempt to prevent it. Had the injunction not been overturned, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would have been dead in the water, missing the Christmas shopping season and its best opportunity to garner sales prior to being replaced in the new year by its successor.