A German court has slapped an injunction on Motorola products in the country that are said to infringe a key Apple patent.

The verdict is the latest victory for Apple in its legal battle with smartphone rivals using Android following on from its landmark legal win over Samsung last month.

The Munich court found that several Motorola products infringed Apple’s so-called “rubber band” patent, which bounces the screen when scrolling to the bottom of a page on a device.

Ruling in favour of Apple, the court granted Apple’s request for a preliminary sales ban on Motorola devices that use the patent, thought to include the Motorola Milestone XT720, the Atrix and the XOOM.  

According to The Guardian, the recalls will not take effect immediately because Apple will have to request a ban on specific products and provide a EU25 million bond. While this will give time for Motorola to appeal, it is deemed unlikely that the decision will be overturned.

Neither firm has commented yet on yesterday's ruling.

Apple was awarded US$1.05 billion damages by a US jury last month, which ruled that Samsung had infringed key elements of the iPhone and iPad.

Many see such legal battles as a proxy war between Apple and Google, the latter the owner of the Android OS and parent of Motorola.