RAZR vs iPhone 4S: Motorola Seen Likely to Obtain Injunction Against Apple Products Running iCloud, With a Twist

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A few days ago we told you that Motorola won a preliminary verdict against Apple in Germany – with the Cupertino-based company not putting too much of a fight initially – that could lead to an injunction against Apple products in the region.

According to Florian Mueller from FOSS Patents, Motorola is likely to win a patent-based injunction in Germany, but this time around Apple is ready to put up a fight. In fact, the company is asking $2.7 billion from Motorola in case a temporary injunction is awarded, in order to cover for lost profits in case the preliminary verdict gets reversed in a future appeal.

The products that apparently are in violation of the patent in play in this trial are Apple’s MobileMe and the recently announced iCloud, Apple’s own cloud-based services for iOS devices and not only. Should Motorola be awarded an injunction then all iOS devices that offer iCloud support – iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3G and iPod touch 4G – may be barred from selling in the regions at least until Apple would solve the issue. Does that mean we may see an iOS version that doesn’t come with iCloud support in Germany? That sounds pretty wild, and it’ll be interesting to see how Apple will deal with the situation. Here is the patent in question:

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. This is one of the two patents asserted in the action in which a default judgment was entered against Apple.

Apple is apparently arguing that Motorola is failing to provide specific details of the alleged infringements, and therefore that it can’t properly defend itself, but the German court doesn’t agree with Apple’s views of the case:

At the time, MMI accused Apple’s MobileMe service of infringing the patent. In a later pleading, which was submitted after Apple’s announcement of the iCloud ahead of this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), MMI told the court that it also considered the iCloud to infringe the related patent. According to MMI, MobileMe is “integrated” into the iCloud, and this also results in a name change. But Apple says that MMI’s infringement accusations lack specificity and therefore refuses to defend itself against them. However, unlike in the United States, where a party could move for the dismissal of non-actionable claims, the German court isn’t even interested in this. The presiding judge made it clear that if an injunction is ordered, it will relate to the infringement of a particular patent by whatever technology (by whichever name it may go), without specifying any products by name.

An upcoming decision is expected to be made official on February 3, 2012 and there’s no indication at this time on how the Mannheim judges will rule. But it appears that they tend to side with Motorola at this time. The next hearing is scheduled for December 2, which is when we may find out more details about this Motorola vs Apple conflict.