In another great instance of American judges believing that their jurisdiction has no limits, a U.S. judge has ruled that Motorola cannot enforce an injunction that would prevent Microsoft from selling Windows products in Germany, should a German court issue such an injunction next week.

Microsoft asked Judge James Robart for the ruling so as to pre-empt an injunction that a German court is expected to issue next week regarding a patent infringement case that Motorola filed against Microsoft.

What this means is that, whatever the ruling in Germany, Motorola won’t be able to enforce an injunction in Germany until a May 7 hearing in America, on the grounds that Judge Robart would lose the ability to resolve the Motorola/Microsoft dispute in America if Microsoft is forced to stop selling Windows products in Germany. Apparently.

Said Motorola lawyer, Jess Jenner;

You are being asked to interfere with a German court. It’s an intolerable intrusion on another country’s prerogative.

Yay, patent wars. Yay, neo-imperialism.

[Source: TechWorld]