Motorola Ordered To Recall Android Phones and Tablets In Germany 190
puddingebola sends word of a German court decision yesterday which found that Google's Motorola Mobility must recall all of its Android tablets and phones that infringe on Apple's patent for "rubber-band" scrolling. From the Guardian:
"The dramatic decision, the latest in an escalating war between Apple and the smartphone and set-top box company MMI, follows earlier cases in which Apple had to disable automatic "push" delivery of email to its iPhone and iPads after MMI won a separate patent fight in Germany. The recall will not take effect immediately because Apple will have to request a ban on specific products and provide a €25m (£20m) bond, while MMI can appeal. However, the court indicated that it was unlikely that an appeal against the validity of the patent would succeed. MMI, with Google's backing, is expected to continue the appeal. The court also ruled that MMI owed Apple damages for past infringement."
What if customers just kept their Samsung phones? (Score:2, Interesting)
Would they send cops after them like they do for stolen stuff?
Re:Stop supporting APPLE!! (Score:3, Interesting)
This isn't an Apple problem, this is a patent problem.
Google and Motorolla would enforce this patent on Apple if they happened to own it. They already enforced another equally trivial patent on push email, so that Apple devices can't use it in Germany.
These sorts of concepts are NOT novel and unique and should NOT be patented.
To use a car analogy, It's like going back in time 100 years and patenting "wheels made of rubber" and "automobiles that exhaust fumes to the air" and "the use of heating elements to warm a car interior" etc etc etc.
Not practical and counter to innovation.
Sad sad sad.
Bounce is obvious to any engineer (Score:5, Interesting)
It's obvious as hell and the only reason I can fathom why it's being upheld is because its merits are being judged by people who are clueless about math or engineering. This is as bad as the XOR cursor patent [google.com], which was also a patent on the graphical representation of a function widely known and commonly used in the respective industry.
Re:Stop supporting APPLE!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Look at the patent is question. It's an idea, not an implementation. I don't imagine Motorola copied Apple's code to implement it. This is the problem with software patents. Even if Motorola's implementation is vastly more efficient ... still 'infringing'.
Re:Stop supporting APPLE!! (Score:4, Interesting)
It is an idea. Patents aren't supposed to cover the result, but rather the implementation or the process of achieving that result. That process should be more specific than "with a smart phone".
Re:Stop supporting APPLE!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, the user interface element in question did exist before Apple "invented" it, it's just that it hadn't been used on touchscreen phones or tablets yet because they didn't actually exist (and neither did the technology required to make them). In fact, all of the iPhone and iPod user interface elements Apple has patents on were originally invented by someone else.
Re:Sense? (Score:3, Interesting)
The judge probably has no clue the "stolen" feature copied from Apple can be disabled with a software update.
You are telling me that Motorola could have avoided the decision long before the judge began deliberation by simply updating the software? And that that inaction makes Motorola's violation of the patent less of an issue?