iPhone 4S, Apple’s latest smartphone, could be banned in Europe along with all Apple devices that have GPRS connectivity and run iOS, following a lawsuit filed in Germany by Motorola.
The number of lawsuits in which the company in Cupertino is involved grows with every passing day. After last week a court in Australia has unanimously decided to withdraw a preliminary decision prohibiting Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to be sold in Australia, Apple faces a new threat from Motorola.
The company, acquired this year by Google, has won in Germany a preliminary injunction through which obtained prohibiting the sale of Apple devices that have the GPRS technology, namely iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G, in Europe.
The case represents a huge loss for Apple in the patents war that they are carrying with the Asian manufacturers of Android devices in several countries worldwide.
“We will appeal the decision immediately. German consumers who want to buy an iPhone or an iPad for the holidays should not have troubles finding them,” said Apple representatives shortly after the decision.
In the light of recent events, the Motorola Mobility purchase by Google, recorded this summer, seems a natural one. Market specialists have speculated even since those times that Google has paid $12.5 billion for the U.S. company only for its patent portfolio in the telecom area, and only in order to defend Android, the mobile platform that develops, by the trials filed by Apple against several manufacturers.
Legal conflict between Apple and Android manufacturers has a long history, most of the lawsuits being filed by the U.S. company against the South Koreans from Samsung.
Apple accuses them of copying the design and functionality of the iPhone and iPad smartphones and tablets of the Galaxy series models. In response, Samsung accuses Apple of violating several patents in the telecommunications area.
Currently, between Apple and Samsung are opened 23 lawsuits in countries like France, Japan, Germany, South Korea and the United States.
Comments