Today a high regional court in Karlsruhe, Germany, decided that Motorola cannot use FRAND patents to impose injunctions against Apple as long as a decision given in one of the two companies' lawsuits has been appealed. The decision of the German court can of course be challenged by appeal, but for now it offers the Apple company a method by which it can protect itself against possible abuses by those from Motorola. The court's decision is based on an offer by Apple to license the FRAND technologies owned by Motorola, an offer considered fair by the German court.
The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court (“Oberlandesgericht Karlsruhe”), the appeals court within whose circuit the Mannheim Regional Court is based, decided today that Motorola Mobility is barred from further enforcement of its standard-essential patent injunction against Apple in Germany at least for the duration of the ongoing appeal. The appeals court summarily held that Apple has made an amended proposal for taking a license to MMI's patents on FRAND terms that should be acceptable to MMI, turning any further attempts to ban Apple's iPhone and iPad products into a violation of applicable antitrust law.
Although we are talking about a decision given only in the case of an appeal, the Apple company can use it to protect itself in the other lawsuits filed by those from Motorola. Practically, Apple has taken the first steps towards concluding an agreement with Motorola and the German courts consider it to be as fair as possible, but it remains to be seen if the Motorola/Google officials will be of the same opinion.
