infoTECH Feature

February 27, 2012

Push Email for iCloud Temporarily Stopped in Germany after Court Ruling

Apple (News - Alert) is stopping – at least for now – push email for iCloud in Germany due to a recent court decision, according to news reports. The move comes after a German judge granted a preliminary injunction in response to a patent lawsuit brought by Motorola (News - Alert) against Apple.

The news was posted last week on the German website of Apple. The action by Apple will not stop Apple’s email service from continuing in Germany, according to the company. But users will have to take a few more manual steps, according to news reports.

“Instead of getting email notifications as the emails are ‘pushed’ from Apple’s servers, users will either have to open their apps to cause them to search for new mail, or set the apps to download new messages at regular intervals,” explains a report from  Appolicious Advisor. MobileMe is also impacted, but like iCloud, it is still working.

What makes the case somewhat different is that the judicial decision was not aimed at a specific device but rather a “single feature,” Appolicious Advisor adds.

Meanwhile, Apple is expected to appeal the legality of the injunction. The company disagrees that a Motorola patent – found to be applicable by the judge – is valid.

In his comments on the case, Florian Mueller, writing on the Foss Patents blog, suggests that Apple should keep on fighting. “It causes a minor inconvenience that won't result in any loss of sales or any appreciable reduction of customer satisfaction,” he argues.

In a related matter, Apple is claiming that Motorola’s technology – regarding “slide” technology to unlock a screen on a mobile phone – violated its own patents. TMCnet reported last week that a court in Germany found that Motorola Mobility’s Android (News - Alert) Operating System phones violated Apple's patents for the slide technology. Motorola is likely to appeal the decision.

The court battles continue as Google (News - Alert) is expected to soon acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The deal was approved by regulators in the United States and in Europe earlier this month, according to a report on TMCnet. The deal still was getting reviewed by authorities in China as of mid-February, according to news reports. If approved, it will be the biggest acquisition of a company by Google.




Edited by Carrie Schmelkin
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