17 September 2012Patents

Court rules Motorola infringed Apple’s ‘rubber band’ patent

Apple has scored another notable patent victory after a German court ruled that several of Motorola Mobility’s smartphones and tablets infringe its so-called ‘rubber band’ patent.

Almost three weeks after Apple’s landmark victory over Samsung in the US, the Munich Regional Court said on September 13 that the Android operating system on Motorola’s devices violated the innovation for scrolling back a list.

The panels’ decision, arriving one day after Apple launched its new iPhone 5, means the company can enforce a Germany-wide permanent injunction by posting a €25 million bond. However this injunction is only preliminary, as it is subject to an appeal by Google-owned Motorola.

In a blog post, IP consultant Florian Müller said Google will “definitely” appeal against the decision to the Munich Higher Regional Court and will continue pursuing its opposition to the validity of the patent with the European Patent Office (EPO). “The opposition proceeding before the EPO is still ongoing and could lead to the partial or complete revocation of this patent,” he said.

“Judge Dr. Guntz does not rule out that this might happen, but in Germany infringement cases are stayed only if there is a high probability (80 percent or higher) of a patent being invalid, and Motorola's invalidity defence did not meet that threshold in the court’s opinion.”

If Apple’s request to ban sales of Motorola products succeeds it can have the devices destroyed by posting a further €10 million, and have them recalled by submitting the same amount again.

But Müller said it would be quite easy for Motorola to use a different version of the Android software in order to avoid infringing Apple’s ‘rubber band’ patent, one of five rights a US court said Samsung had infringed in a landmark trial last month.

On August 24, a Californian jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion for infringing five design and utility patents. The decision has raised the profile of Apple’s approach to patent litigation.

Earlier this year, Apple won two injunctions against Motorola at a court in Munich. The cases covered patents on the way the ‘slide-to-unlock’ effect on the iPhone and the way to scroll through a photo gallery.

Apple and Samsung are also tied up in patent litigation in Germany—with a trial set to begin in Mannheim on December 7.

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19 October 2021   Attorneys representing Motorola have secured $34.2 million in fees as part of the tech company in a multi million dollar victory over Hytera in a dispute over radio IP.