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German court has dismissed Motorola's patent lawsuit against Apple

In the slugfest between Apple and Motorola Mobility, the Cupertino company has won a round in the German courts. A judge in the Mannheim Regional Court dismissed the Motorola Mobility (MMI) lawsuit against Apple over a patent considered essential to the 3G/UMTS standard.

In a typically well-written and extremely detailed look at the case by FOSS Patents, intellectual property analyst and blogger Florian Mueller noted that MMI didn't present conclusive evidence for its contention that Apple was infringing on a key 3G/UMTS patent. MMI's argument has been that "any implementation of 3G/UMTS must inevitably infringe this patent claim," rather than demonstrating that Apple's infringing products actually use the invention.

MMI didn't show that Apple was using any actual implementation of the patent; instead, they argued on the basis of the specifications of the standard. MMI declared the patent to be essential, while the court found it to not be essential, meaning that the judge thinks that Apple could be able to implement the standard without infringing on the patent.

MMI isn't worrying too much about this specific patent lawsuit, though. They have other similar lawsuits that are still making their way through the court system, and have won other patent claims. Mueller notes that "it takes only one bullet to kill," and that winning a key patent infringement lawsuit could still force Apple and other manufacturers to pay the 2.25% of net selling price "ransom" that will fatten MMI owner Google's pockets over time.

To see more detail about today's win and the complex set of lawsuits that are churning through courtrooms around the world, check out the original FOSS Patents post here.