Apple Relaunch In Germany Following Sales Ban

A court in Mannheim (Germany) have overturned a previous decision made regarding the technology industry and patent disputes, and one that is good news for Apple, as a ‘sales ban’ restricting their operations in the Germany has now been lifted, meaning they are now free to sell their products in the European nation.

The ban was originally imposed at the suggestion of rival American technology company Motorola, who held various patents in Germany, of which Apple were in violation of. However, the appeals court have temporarily suspended the lock-out of Apple, as they made Motorola a ‘new’ offer at a licencing payment (to become authorised to use the ‘Motorola-registered’ patents in their product) which the latter refused.

This story of give-and-take in the courtroom surprisingly spanned over the course of just one day, with the ’ban’ on their sales enforced on Friday with a forced removal of numerous iPhone and iPad models in a number of Germany’s stores nationwide, though with the rejected offer fielded later that day, the court imposed a suspension on Apple’s ‘sales ban’.

The temporary removal of products will still have been a blow to the company, though, as they look to get closer to an impending milestone global net worth of $1T. The case itself is said to be over Apple’s violation of ‘a patent injunction’ over a piece of ‘data packet transfer technology’, under the name of ‘GPRS’.

Meanwhile, German users of Apple’s products might still lose out on the use of the iCloud online storage system (that allows files and downloads to be shared across a user’s Apple products), as Motorola claimed a current victory in a separate German patent case relating to the format.

An official Apple statement issued the news of the listed suspension on Friday evening, reading: “All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly. Apple appealed this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

The Motorola camp are not going to bow down so easily, though, and state that the decision is merely a minor setback in their overall case against Apple. Motorola’s statement read: “We are pleased that the Mannheim court has recognised the importance of our intellectual property and granted an enforceable injunction in Germany against Apple Sales International. Although the enforcement of the injunction has been temporarily suspended, Motorola Mobility will continue to pursue its claims against Apple.”

German courts seem to have become something of a hotbed for high-profile technology patent cases in recent times, as late last year saw Apple file against Motorola, while Motorola are juggling their situations with Apple alongside a similar dispute with Microsoft. Will there ever be a clear dominant force of American companies in Germany, and just how long will these particular disputes carry on for?

Crazy Matt Cazzy into all things hi-tech, gizmos and gadgets. If its just out, i want it. Loves watching tv on every device ever invented that can handle it

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2 Responses to “Apple Relaunch In Germany Following Sales Ban”

Jenita on February 7th, 2012 at 7:44 am

German users of Apple’s products might still lose out on the use of the iCloud online storage system.
Apple And Samsung Locked Out Of German Patent Case on March 5th, 2012 at 8:24 am

[...] And Samsung Locked Out Of German Patent Case Apple have seen a further setback in the German court system over local technology patents, although a saving grace for the world’s highest-profile technology company is that Samsung, [...]