Motorola Xoom tablet rumoured as next Apple patent target

Motorola's Xoom tablet could be next in the firing line for Apple's patent war lawyers, according to a prominent blogger citing German court filings.

A preliminary EU-wide injunction imposed by a German court yesterday saw Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablet withdrawn from sale in the EU, and, according to a prominent patents blogger, Motorola is also facing trouble.

“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,” said Florian Mueller on the Foss Patents blog.

“Apple filed with the same court in Düsseldorf a complaint over the design of the Motorola Xoom, but it doesn't state whether that complaint included a request for a preliminary injunction.

"While it's not stated explicitly, I suppose that the complaint against Motorola also asks the court for an EU-wide injunction - but perhaps just for a permanent injunction without a previous preliminary one.”

A permanent injunction application may be more likely to succeed because the Xoom has been on sale for more than a month, Mueller said.

Preliminary injunctions were used to challenge a product when it first came to market.

Apple and Motorola were already involved in a dispute involving 40 patents in the US and the war appeared to have spread to the European courts.