Apple Scores A Legal Victory In Germany, Motorola Phones With Slide-To-Unlock On The Hot Seat

Apple was awarded a giant victory today in Munich’s Regional Court where Judge Dr. Peter Guntz decided that Motorola’s slide-to-unlock feature as implemented in use of their smartphones was in breach of Apple’s patent  EP1964022.

The court concluded with a permanent injunction that Apple could enforce at any time. This gives Apple the power to force Motorola to change the UX across its device portfolio. Originally, the lawsuit was centered on three separate applications of the slide-to-unlock technology. Two aspects were related to smartphone implementation and the third related to the gesture used in the Motorola Xoom tablet. However, the court decided that the gesture applied to the Xoom tablet was outside of Apple’s patent holdings.

Despite the significant win for the Cupertino camp, we still expect Apple to appeal the ruling in an attempt to win on the third embodiment as well since it could be seen as covered by Apple’s patent. Today’s ruling is just another example of the smartphone patent litigation war that continues to rage on.

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