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Apple Faces Temporary iPhone, iPad Ban In Germany

Posted by samzenpus on from the das-ist-verboten dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A regional court has temporarily banned Apple from marketing or supplying iPhones and iPads in Germany, following a suit brought about by Motorola. However, Apple said that the judgement 'does not affect our ability to do business or sell products in Germany at this time.' This may have something to do with the respondent in the case being Apple Inc, the US parent company, and not Apple GmbH, the company's local subsidiary."

8 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. The litigation morass by Rambo+Tribble · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple is faced with the prospect of "live by the sword, die by the sword".

  2. Re:And this is a bad thing? by andreicristianpetcu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Screw patents. I wish Apple would shake hands with Google and give up patents. They are silly and waste time that can go in development and in designing better products. Samsung is dodging patents like in the matrix! This is not productive.

  3. Re:Google's proxy wars by JavaBear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Google may call for patent reform, but till then they have no choice but to play the game along with the others, whether they like it or not.
    They have to be able to do business, and when Apple is getting increasingly aggressive now that their iStuff business is threatened by other corporations using the same technologies as those implemented (but rarely invented) by Apple.

    I'm seeing a strong correlation between SCO and Apple these days, and I do hope for Apple that they know when to call it quits.

  4. Re:Google's proxy wars by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google is not the villain... nor the victim. Neither is Apple, or any other of the combatants in the Patent Wars. Unfortunately, patent law doesn't allow someone to stay out of it... which is one of the ways in which it has become Evil.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  5. It would serve Apple right by walterbyrd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Apple used to be a great company. Now, Apple is just a patent parasite. If iProducts are banned, Apple will only have themselves to blame. You can blame other companies for defending themselves against an aggressive scammer, like Apple.

    1. Re:It would serve Apple right by Telvin_3d · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'd object to the description 'patent parasite'.
      Assholes, jerks and many other derogatory terms may be appropriate, but 'patent parasite' implies that they are leaching off others. Instead they are the ones pushing the market in every way, but using patents to stop others from following the same strategies. It's not nice, and it's not healthy for competition, but it's also not parasitic.

  6. Re:Google's proxy wars by walterbyrd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google certainly is the victim. Google has had their products banned because of Apple's aggressive patent scamming.

    You cannot blame Google for trying to defend itself against a patent extortionist like Apple.

    These scam lawsuits are 100% Apple’s fault. Google, HTC, Motorola, never wanted this.

  7. Re:And this is a bad thing? by Kartu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about "think at all"? Amount of FUD surrounding Apple or Apple vs Anything is depressing.