Motorola scored a victory in its patent battle with Apple today when a German court upheld a decision that bans Apple's iCloud service in the country.
Motorola can continue to block Apple's iCloud push email notifications in Germany, which it has been doing since late February, according to Judge Andreas Voss with the Manheim Regional Court.
"We are pleased with the Mannheim Court's ruling, and will continue to protect our intellectual property," a Motorola spokesperson said in a statement.
Today's decision comes about two months after the same court granted a permanent injunction against iCloud, a ruling Apple unsuccessfully appealed.
As patent blogger Florian Mueller explained, the February decision related to Apple Sales International, Apple's Ireland-based European distribution center, while today's ruling covers its parent company, the Cupertino-based Apple, Inc.
Users will still get their emails, just slightly delayed. Mueller noted that "setting one's email client to, for example, a two-minute interval to check for and pull any new email messages is not the end of the world."
The ruling only applies in Germany, but Mueller said having a ruling against Cupertino is "useful" in that "it harder for Apple to circumvent the injunction (which it didn't try, but who knows what it might have done later) and it's another legal entity from which Motorola can claim damages."
The case at hand involves two patents: the non-standard iCloud patent and an allegedly standard-essential radio patent. According to Mueller, Judge Voss decided on Wednesday to separate these patents into two cases. That second case might result in more Apple product bans - like the iPhone or iPad - down the line, thanks to "Motorola's unrelenting pursuit of injunctive relief," Mueller said, but that remains to be seen.
For more, see PCMag's full review of iCloud and the slideshow below.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
