Motorola scores a victory over Apple as the German patent battle continues

It was only yesterday we wrote about Apple’s claims against Samsung in Germany and just as one would expect, the saga continues.

This time it’s Motorola’s turn to go up against the Cupertino giants although, just to break the usual trend, it’s Apple’s turn in the dock. The groundwork for this case was actually laid back in November when Motorola won an injunction against the sale of Apple products in Germany.

In an unexpected twist, a German judge has ruled in Motorola’s favour, granting two permanent injunctions. Motorola has really gone for the jugular on this one too, dealing two major blows to Apple’s products in Germany :

Injunction passed preventing the sale of various iOS products

Apple has already removed the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, as well as all 3G-enabled iPads from its online store.  The iPhone 4s is the only device still available online. All devices are still for sale at retail outlets.

Injunction passed preventing the use of push e-mail services

The Mannheim Regional Court has granted a permanent injunction preventing the use of the iCloud and MobileMe push e-mail services on German devices. Whilst users in Germany will still be able to use e-mail services, there will be no push option.  They will need to set their device to check for new e-mail at pre-defined intervals.

I’m ordinarily the first person in line to poke fun at our Apple owning friends however, on this occasion I have to say I take little pleasure in reading about cases like this.  There are no real winners as these patent wars rage on and Android users have missed out on features over the years due to similar claims.  In cases such as these, Apple may lose on the day but inevitably it’s the consumer who is losing out in the long run.