German Court: Motorola Xoom tablet does not step on iPad’s patent turf

The patent wars between Motorola and Apple continue yet again, where a German court ruled earlier this morning that the Xoom tablet from Motorola Mobility (owned by Google) does not infringe in any way upon the iPad’s design, although the very same court threw out Motorola’s claim that the iPad’s design patent is invalid. At first, Apple sued Motorola for infringing a trio of iPad designs with the Xoom, and wanted to get the Motorola Xoom banned throughout the continent of Europe, but I guess that this hope has amounted to nought. There was some justice on Apple’s part however, as a counterclaim brought forward by Motorola that pointed to the iPad’s design patent has been deemed to be invalid.

In the end, Apple was required to fork out 67% of the legal costs, while Motorola will have to pay the remainder. So far, Apple and Motorola have yet to respond to this particular ruling in an official capacity, but something tells me that both camps are back to the legal drawing board, hoping to probe for a weakness in their opponent’s before making yet another legal assault in a court some day down the road.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Tablets
Tags: Apple Inc, Motorola