A patent infringement lawsuit underway in a regional court in Germany could result in the banning of Google Maps.
Judge Matthias Zigann, of the of the Munich I Regional Court, told Google that he may hold the search giant and it's subsidiary Motorola Mobility LLC and MMI's German subsidiary liable for infringing on a Microsoft patent. The patent, as outlined in a As FOSS Patents report, describes a “computer system for identifying local resources and method therefor.”
Source: Google about to lose patent spat with Microsoft: German court inclined to ban Google Maps
This key Microsoft patent, EP0845124, describes the combination of search results with map data. Microsoft is hoping for (and could possibly get) a German patent injunction against the Google Maps service, which may also affect the Google Maps Android app and even stretch as far as web browser service which provide access to Google Maps and map search. The final decision will be in May of this year.
This ruling could have an impact on search marketing campaigns within the EU, which makes it a case to watch.
