NEW DELHI: Apple seems to be going all out against its rivals in the tablet space. The company’s lawsuit filed in Germany against Samsung also reportedly makes reference to a separate complaint against Motorola’s Xoom tablet.
The lawsuit led to the recent injunction barring sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe.
In a blog posting from Florian Mueller on Foss Patents, “Prior to or simultaneously with the motion for a preliminary injunction against Samsung, Apple also filed a complaint with the same court over the design of the Motorola Xoom tablet.”
However, according to the blog, it is not clear if the complaint included a request for a preliminary injunction against Motorola as well. Writes Mueller, “…it doesn’t state whether that complaint included a request for a preliminary injunction. While it’s not stated explicitly, I suppose that the complaint against Motorola also asks the court for an EU-wide injunction — but perhaps just for a permanent injunction without a previous preliminary one.”
Motorola on its part, reportedly said that the suit is in response to a complaint it filed against Apple in April, charging patent infringement. According to a news story on Computerworld, Apple responded by filing its own patent infringement actions against Motorola in Germany including design patent infringement claims. Motorola in a statement said that it has reviewed Apple’s claims and believe they have no merit. And that it intends to vigorously defend Motorola’s own product designs.
Along with Motorola, Apple also filed suit against JAY-tech, a German technology company, which according to the blog was served with a preliminary injunction.
Back in October 2010, Motorola slapped lawsuits against Apple in the US International Trade Commission for violating 18 patents related to several key technologies used in iPhone and iPad. In retaliation, Apple sued Motorola for violating six of its patents in the company’s Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, and other smartphones.
Earlier this week, the International Trade Commission said that it will investigate Apple’s accusations that HTC infringed five patents related to software architecture and user interfaces in portable electronic devices, hardware for touchscreens and movement sensors.
