A German court ruled on Friday that Apple hasn’t infringed on a Motorola Mobility patent related to using mathematical equations in mobile communication. The ruling marks a change in the court’s pattern since it previously ruled that Apple is, in fact, violating two other Motorola Mobility wireless communication patents.
Motorola finally loses a round in its patent fight with Apple
The patent in question describes a “method and system for generating a complex pseudonoise sequence for processing a code division multiple access [CDMA] signal,” and is considered essential to 3G/UTMS wireless communication, according to Foss Patents.
“This is a textbook example of a patent that was declared essential (by MMI itself, not by any standard-setting organization) but isn’t essential in the court’s opinion: the judge doesn’t rule out that Apple may be able to implement the standard without necessarily having products that contain the “means” claimed by MMI,” said Florian Mueller of Foss Patents.
Motorola’s earlier wins in its patent infringement fight with Apple led to an injunction that ultimately forced the company to stop selling some iPhone and iPad models online in Germany. That injunction, however, was temporarily suspended only hours after going into effect and Apple was able to resume online sales in the country.
Losing out on this one patent most likely isn’t a big deal for Motorola since it still has two others where the court ruled in its favor. Motorola’s legal team even went so far as to compare its patent litigation to a bank robbery and said “it only takes one bullet to kill.”
Apple has not commented on the latest ruling from the German court.