After a German court ruling earlier this month that deemed Apple’s push email services for iCloud (and MobileMe) infringe upon a Motorola patent, the Cupertino company has been forced to disable the service in Germany.
Those with an iCloud account within Germany will no longer have their emails pushed to their device, so they’ll need to open up the Mail account and fetch them manually from now on, or set up automatic fetching periodically.
Contacts and calendar syncing will continue to work, however, and so will third-party email services from the likes of Google.
Apple believes the patent is “invalid” and it is currently appealing the decision, but it seems it has continued to halt push email for the time being as a precautionary measure. In a statement to Engadget, the company said:
This ruling only impacts customers in Germany who use a Push setting to get their MobileMe and iCloud email. These customers will still receive email to their devices. Apple believes this patent is invalid and is appealing the decision.
Apple has provided German customers with a support document detailing the issue on its website.
Those who visit Germany will automatically see push email services for iCloud stopped as soon as they enter the country. But it will be restored again once they leave.
