Motorola Mobility scores a "push" e-mail win against Apple

In a ruling delivered by Judge Andreas Voss at the Mannheim Regional Court, Germany, Motorola Mobility, reportedly scored success over rival Apple, thereby confirming an earlier ruling and effectively implementing a ban on the latter's iCloud and MobileMe services in the country. An earlier ruling in this respect had ended with the court being convinced that Apple had been using a patented technology, which automatically informs Apple customers about their new messages on their iPhones, iPods or iPads, and that it owes Motorola Mobility for that. Further in a statement delivered by a court spokesperson, it has been revealed that Apple still cannot use the push feature when in Germany and is liable to pay damages. The court, further asked Apple to provide them with information, so as to aid them in calculating the damages that were to be paid. 

Apple may have to pay damages

According to a post by Foss Patents, the latest decision was a second one, since a default judgment had come through against Apple in early November. It added, "Apple's counsel didn't show up for the originally-scheduled trial in late October. After Apple objected to the default judgment, a second trial took place on February 3, 2012 (with all the lawyers). The default judgment related to the following two patents: an allegedly standard-essential patent:

1. EP (European Patent) 1010336 (B1) on a "method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system"; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 6,359,898

2. a non-standard-essential push notification patent:

EP (European Patent) 0847654 (B1) on a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method"; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119."

Apple has been battling it out with Motorola Mobility for a while now, along with separate legal tangles with manufacturers, like Samsung, globally.  According to reports, however, it has been stated that Apple disagrees with the German court ruling and would appeal. Around this time, last month, there were reports about both Apple and Motorola Mobility discussing at length the possibilities of having a cross-licensing deal, which if successful could even put an end to the long standing battle between the two companies. We, however are yet to hear about the developments on this front. 

Reuters