Today the Motorola company won a very important lawsuit against the Apple company and based on the decision given by the judge can block the sale of iDevices in Germany. Motorola claimed that one of its invention patents called multiple pager status synchronization system and method is violated in the technology implemented by Apple in its iDevices that use iCloud. A court in Mannheim, Germany, agreed since last year with Motorola's claims and Apple has already lost 2 times in the attempt to win this trial and today's decision can be imposed by Motorola only in Germany. In practice, Motorola can force Apple Ireland, the company that deals with the distribution of iDevices in Europe, to stop selling iDevices to Germany, but only if it pays a bail of 100 million euros.
This morning, Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court pronounced a decision on a German Motorola Mobility lawsuit against Apple Sales International, Apple's Ireland-based European sales organization. Motorola won a permanent injunction against Apple's iCloud and any devices that can access it. Note that even though today's decision enjoins Apple's European distribution arm, the scope of the injunction is not Europe-wide: the Irish entity has to respect it as far as the German market is concerned (for example, it's the contractual partner of customers buying Apple products from Apple's German online store).
At the moment, Apple's iCloud infringes patents owned by Motorola and in Germany the Motorola company can block the sale of iDevices if it pays the bail of 100 million euros and agrees to pay any damages in case that an appeal filed against the decision will be definitively won by Apple. The company from Cupertino requested the payment of a bail of 2 billion dollars for the imposition of this ban, considering that these are the losses it will suffer. The German court considered that the sum of 100 million euros is sufficient for a preliminary imposition of the ban, but everything depends on Motorola.
Today's judgment is appealable (which is why it's only "preliminarily enforceable"), and it's a given that Apple will appeal this to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court. The term "preliminary enforceable" means that Motorola can seek its enforcement anytime now if it posts a 100 million euro bond, but if an appeals court overturns the ruling, Motorola will be liable for premature enforcement of an improperly-granted injunction. In that case, Motorola will owe whatever damages are determined later. The 100 million euro bond is neither a minimum amount nor a ceiling for that event. It's just the amount the court believes Motorola should guarantee. Apple had argued that the appropriate bond amount should be two billion euros.
Motorola could block the sale of iDevices in Germany a few months ago, but it chose to wait before taking such a decision and it is possible that in the following days/weeks it will impose the decision given by the court in Germany. We will find out what will happen soon, but it is clear that Apple will continue to fight to win the case.
UPDATE: Motorola has blocked the sale some iDevices in Germany.
