Edible Apple

It’s going to a be a revealing Summer for Apple and its worldwide effort to really put Android out of commission. As you recall, Apple about 9 days ago received two preliminary injunctions against Samsung devices – the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and the flagship Galaxy Nexus smartphone – as part of its litigation against the Korean based electronics giant here in the US. The original lawsuit Apple filed against Samsung and its alleged line of infringing products is slated to get under way in just a few weeks, right at the end of July.

Meanwhile, Apple is also embroiled in litigation against Samsung across the globe in over 11 countries. To that end, Apple’s litigation against Samsung and Motorola in Germany now has a firm date for which we can expect a decision.

The WSJ reports:

German court set dates Friday to decide on two cases brought by Apple against Google unit Motorola and Samsung for the alleged infringement of a patent related to multi-touch, enabled devices that Apple claims have been violated.

The Mannheim court heard arguments Friday from lawyers for each party, and set the date for a decision in the Motorola case for Aug. 31, and for Samsung on Sept. 21.

The lawsuits concern a touchscreen function crucial to many smartphone applications, which allow touchscreens to sense multiple touches at the same time, for example, when two fingers are pressed simultaneously to different points on the screen. The patent, EP2098948, protects the ability of a device’s screen to recognize multiple touches in some areas, while other areas do not.

A win for Apple would be a blow to U.S. Google’s Android smartphone operating system, which is also used by Samsung. A decision in Apple’s favor would mean Motorola and South Korea’s Samsung could be banned from selling smartphones with the latest versions of the Android operating system in Germany, one of the world’s largest markets for mobile devices.