While Apple has been engaged in a number of high-profile patent lawsuits with its competitors offering Android-based hardware, one of the quieter disputes has gained new attention today following a discovery by FOSS Patents that Apple has in fact sued Motorola in Europe, claiming that the Motorola Xoom tablet infringes upon the design of Apple's products. The revelation comes in a court document filed in Germany and associated with the preliminary injunction granted against Samsung yesterday barring sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Prior to or simultaneously with the motion for a preliminary injunction against Samsung, Apple also filed a complaint with the same court over the design of the Motorola Xoom tablet. Here's a passage from the Samsung complaint that mentions two other lawsuits Apple instigated against iPad competitors -- Motorola and a local German company named JAY-tech...
The document does not state whether Apple has pushed for a preliminary injunction against the sale of the Xoom in the European Union as it did for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, but Apple is presumably seeking a more permanent injunction against Motorola's tablet offering.
Apple also notes in its filing that a preliminary injunction against JAY-tech was granted and further upheld "in its entirety" following a hearing. Apple does not specify exactly what model of tablet from JAY-tech was the subject of the injunction, but JAY-tech last year began offering a budget 7-inch Android-based tablet, and the company no longer appears to be selling that product.
Motorola fired the first shot against Apple last October, claiming infringement of a series of 18 Motorola patents by a broad array of Apple's Mac and iOS products. Apple responded a few weeks later with a lawsuit focused on multi-touch functionality and targeting Motorola's Droid and other smartphones.
Things have generally been quiet between Apple and Motorola since the initial filings last year, but today's revelation makes clear that Apple has continued to press its case and gone on the offensive against not only Motorola's smartphones but also its tablets.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by Juli Clover
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products.
Here's what's supposedly coming:
An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1.
Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings.
macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
Anyone else notice that since MacRumors started posting these patent disputes as front page news that:
1) posts are a lot more aggressive with the conflicting nature of Apple v whoever
2) fanboys are out on both sides and there is little constructive debate (see posts above of, "can't innovate, litigate" versus "can't innovate, copy")
3) people simply don't understand either the complex nature of patent litigation, or believe they know it all. This leads to people thinking one side has 'won', when in reality, both sides will settle and continue their commercial relationships.
I believe we need a 'page 2' for this type of news, where interested parties can head. Right now, our community can look a tad ridiculous arguing over complex patent disputes as if we have the inside scoop.
Everyone is suing everyone else for patent infringement. Why don't they mutually agree to either open all the patents--thus paving the way for true innovation and exciting new products, or just pay each other royalties? It will probably all come out even in the end.
Because it won't encourage innovation. Why would Apple continue to innovate if other companies are allowed to sit back and copy what Apple did attempting to reap the benefit of the time and money Apple put into R&D?
