Apple has suffered a setback in Germany in its
worldwide legal war with the makers of Android phones, with US
manufacturer Motorola winning a court finding that Apple had breached
one of its patents.
The Mannheim court prohibited Apple from selling or distributing
its iPhone and iPad mobile devices, patent analyst Florian Mueller
said Friday, after obtaining the written verdict.
Motorola has not yet enforced the injunction, but is entitled to
force a halt in German sales of the iPad and iPhone if it posts a
bond of 100 million euros ($130 million), the text published
by Mueller showed.
Apple is using courts around the globe to attack Samsung and other
makers of phones that use the rival operating system Android. Apple
initially won most of the cases.
Apple said it would appeal the German ruling.
The court could not be immediately reached for confirmation and
neither side has issued a statement on the legal issues.
Judges ruled that Apple had breached one of Motorola Mobility's
European patents for a "method for performing a countdown function
during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system."
Motorola Mobility brought the suit against Apple in Germany in
April, as the dispute between the two camps heated up.
Search giant Google, which devised Android, is in the throes of
taking over Motorola Mobility in order to gain control of its patents
and win a stronger position against both Apple and Microsoft.
The late Apple chief executive Steve Jobs initiated the dispute,
accusing Google of copying Apple's operating system.
