We recently heard about Samsung facing a ban on sale of its Galaxy tab 10.1 in Germany (EU) due to Apple securing a preliminary injunction in a patent case. While Samsung has to battle it out the hard way in Europe, Apple apparently has also sued Motorola for its Xoom tablet in the same German court since some time. Foss Patents has uncovered a mention of the case against Motorola in one of the filings made by Apple against Samsung.
Apple’s complaint revolves around the argument that its competitors have copied the iPad, we aren’t sure how much of this is hardware and how much is to be blamed on Android OS provided free of cost by Google. However the breather for Motorola is the fact that Apple hasn’t applied for a preliminary injunction in the suit against them. Foss Patents goes on to explain how the preliminary injunction works in EU and why Apple might have taken this approach against Motorola. For now Motorola ending Xoom production just sounds like a good news.
Apple clearly understands that iPad has earned it a fortune and its lead in the tablet market is significant, much more than what iPhone has over Android. If Apple can delay or better prevent its competitors from releasing products (or simply increase their cost with royalties), it takes away majority of the market for itself.