Motorola wins Apple wireless

A German court has ruled in favor of Motorola Mobility in a patent dispute with Apple.

The Android smartphone maker had complained that Apple does not license its intellectual properties of wireless.

Apple uses the technology on their iPhones and 3G iPads.

Motorola now might try to force Apple to remove the property of their devices or stop sales in Germany. However, Apple said it intends to appeal.

Motorola said the ruling validated his "efforts to enforce its patents against infringement of Apple."

Apple said: "We will appeal the ruling of the court immediately holiday shoppers in Germany should not have trouble finding the iPhone or the iPhone they want.".

If Motorola decides to take out an injunction blocking sales of Apple products, the case could lead to a confrontation between the maker of iPhone and Google - Motorola's shareholders have approved acquisition of the search giant of his company and treatment is due to be completed in 2012.

The fight against time
The case concerns Motorola's patents for a "method for performing a countdown function during a transfer of mobile-originated by a packet radio system."

Motorola licenses the patent to others in Frand (fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory) terms.

The patent owner Frand type is required to license out their technology to third parties because the invention has been declared essential to industry standard.

Apple had offered to pay a fee Frand-set in the future and was willing to pay a similar rate for past infringements. But he lost the case because it tried to retain the right to challenge the validity of the patent to the damage of the past.

They tried to do this because Motorola had defended their right to charge a fee beyond Apple Frand use of technology in the last four years. This could have been many times greater than the rate of Apple was willing to pay and could be expensive.

Motorola will put a 100m euro (£ 85m, $ 133 million) of bonds if it wants to impose an injunction against sales of Apple. The money will cover compensation to Apple if the decision was later revoked.

Motorola welcomed the decision.

"We will continue to take all necessary measures to protect our intellectual property, as the company's portfolio of patents and licensing agreements with companies in both the U.S. and around the world are critical to our business," said the offer Scott, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility.

"We have been negotiating with Apple and offer reasonable terms and conditions of license since 2007 and will continue our efforts to resolve the patent dispute in the world, as soon as possible."