A Motorola Mobility patent that was successfully used to force Apple to turn off its iCloud push email services for users in Germany last year could be invalid, the District Court in Mannheim, Germany, said on Friday.

The court said it doubted the validity of Motorola’s patent entitled “Multiple Pager Status Synchronization System and Method,” also known as the push notification patent, in a lawsuit between Motorola and Microsoft. Google-owned Motorola alleged that several Windows Phone devices in Germany infringed on this patent, according to Microsoft.

The court however decided to postpone a decision in the case pending a validity procedure about the patent in the German Federal Patent Court, Mannheim court spokesman Joachim Bock said in an email.

“This decision is a win for consumers, and we’re gratified the Court has not allowed Google to obtain an injunction and has expressed doubts about the validity of Motorola’s patent,” David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in an emailed statement.

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