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Court orders Motorola to cease sale of the Moto X and Moto G in Germany due to patent infringement

Callum Tennent
July 10, 2014

What a difference four days makes. At the start of the week, German Motorola customers were feeling on top of the world. They were the first nationals outside of North America to gain access to the Moto Maker, Motorola’s genius online store which enables you to totally customise the look of your new Moto handset.

Today though, they’ve been struck a cruel blow by a German court. Mannheim Regional Court has ruled that Motorola must cease sale of some of its handsets in Germany due to a patent infringement.

The patent in question belongs to LPKF, a German laser-engineering firm. It patented the process by which an antenna is placed on to a curved plastic design. Despite this process being rather commonplace in the mobile world  the German officiator has ruled that Motorola Mobility Deutschland and Motorla Mobility USA are in violation of LPKF’s patent. As a result, production of a number of Motorola devices must be halted, and in some cases products must even be recalled. Two of the handsets affected are the Motorola Moto G and Moto X, the company’s most popular smartphones  by far.

Motorola will almost certainly be lodging an appeal, particularly as a Chinese court recently ruled the patent invalid. Just as that case is set to be reopened by LPKF, though, expect this one to rumble on just a little bit longer – most likely until LPKF gets the hefty payout it’s most likely looking for.

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About the Author

Callum Tennent

International playboy/tech journalist.

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