Windows 7 can't be sold in Germany ... at least technically. That's the decision from one of the courts in that country today. According to FOSS Patents, Judge Dr. Holger Kircher of the Mannheim Regional Court has ruled that in the ongoing patent dispute between Microsoft and Motorola, Microsoft is in violation of two of Motorola's patents.
As a result, the judge has placed an injunction on the sale and distribution of several of Microsoft's products, including Windows 7, the Xbox 360, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. The injunction is supposed to prevent the distribution of these products in Germany; all products in that country under this injunction are to be recalled from retail stores and destroyed.
However, Microsoft has already won a previous court case in the US that puts a temporary restraining order on any enforcement of a German injunction, so for the moment sales of both Windows 7 and the Xbox 360 can continue as normal in that country; Microsoft will appeal today's court decision.
The dispute started in 2010 when Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Motorola, claiming it was not providing its patents relating to online video and wireless standards at a fair price. Naturally, Motorola fired back with its own lawsuit, filed in Germany, against Microsoft in 2011, claiming Microsoft was in violation of Motorola's patents.
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