German court rules Motorola infringed on Apple’s rubber banding patent
14 Sep 2012
A German court yesterday ruled that Google-owned Motorola Mobility (MMI) has infringed on one of Apple's overscroll bounce, or rubber banding patent, which may lead to MMI recalling its Android tablets and smartphones from Germany.
The rubber banding patent was also part of Apple's billion-dollar lawsuit win against its arch rival Samsung Electronics in a US court last month.
A regional court in Munich ruled that Motorola's smartphones and tablets infringed on Apple's US Patent No 7,469,381 – a technology known as overscroll bounce, or rubber banding, which allows users to move documents over the screen of their device and let them bounce back to the centre after releasing their fingers.
The latest ruling comes two months after a German court dismissed an Apple plea to ban sales of the Motorola Xoom over design patent infringement.
Apple will have to post a €25-million ($32.6 million) bond in order to enforce an injunction against MMI in German and another €10 million to force MMI to recall its infringing devices that include the Atrix, DEFY and XOOM tablet .
The court also ruled that MMI owed Apple damages for past infringement.
