visitant to Germany ’s online Apple Store may have witnessed an uneven sight on Friday , as Apple scrambled to remove the iPhone 3 1000 , iPhone 3GS , iPhone 4 , and all Wi - Fi + 3 G iPads , thanks toa temporary injunctionbanning the sales agreement of those products — a ban that was uprise bare time of day later . In addition , iCloud users in the res publica may have to change how they get their email , thanks to a separate legal issuance .
In term of Apple ’s forcible product , the back and forth is the result of the ongoing patent disputes that have overshadow the tech world of late . In this type , the belligerent were Apple and Motorola Mobility , the smartphone - make subsidiary of Motorola that was buy last year by Google . At issue are patent cover certain 3 one thousand technologies , which Motorola has pledged to certify under “ comely , fair , and non - discriminatory ” ( FRAND ) terms as part of the 3 G standards cognitive operation . ( The iPhone 4S was not affected by the injunction , potential because it uses a different 3 G baseband chip than its predecessors . )
Motorola Mobilitywon an injunction against Apple late last twelvemonth , but it apparently was n’t served until this week , which resulted in Apple being forced to remove the break products from its on-line store in Germany — but only temporarily . Apple rapidly attract the opinion , and has already been granted a temporary suspension of the injunction , which intend that the products should , as of this penning , be available in Germany once again .
However , that reprieve may itself be temporary , as it depends on a German court to make up one’s mind whether Apple ’s latest offer to license the patents in question from Motorola is sufficient to meet sure require sound criteria .
In a statement provided to AllThingsDearlier on Friday , an Apple spokesperson said “ All iPad and iPhone models will be back on cut-rate sale through Apple ’s online storehouse in Germany shortly . Apple appeal this opinion because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent of invention to Apple on reasonable footing , despite having declared it an industry received patent seven years ago . ”
Overall , the enjoining will belike have little outcome on Apple ’s sales in Germany , given the exceedingly brief menstruum for which the equipment were really unavailable . But it reinforce the importance of Apple coming to some sort of arrangement with Motorola over licensing , as Motorola ’s deep patent portfolio clearly has some stopping power .
This is n’t the only issue in dispute between the two companies , however : Patent expert Florian Mueller reports thatMotorola Mobility won a second cease and desist order against Apple on Friday , this time regarding the delivery of push e-mail . advertise e-mail allows any incoming email to be immediately delivered from the server to your sound , rather than messages being get at fixed interval ( usually every 15 – 45 minutes ) . Due to a letters patent title by Motorola , Apple may not be able-bodied to have e-mail push to iCloud users in Germany ; alternatively , those users will have to resort to having their email fetched on a regular agenda . While the injunction in this casing is permanent rather than preliminary , Apple can ( and belike will ) appeal the case in a high-pitched royal court .
Though these two cases are unrelated , they do show a favourable atmospheric state towards Motorola in Germany , and the company seems to be using the lawsuit as a jumping off point to establish similar cause against Apple in the U.S. as well . To particular date , Apple has avoided getting directly sweep up with Google about Android , instead launching lawsuit against cooperator likeHTCandSamsung , but with Motorola now part of the Google kin , it seems that the conflict is poise to escalate to open war .
