Germany Is the Place to Go to Block a Rival's Technology BERLIN - Is Germany's system of litigating disputes over patents bad for business? Microsoft's decision to move its European logistics and distribution headquarters from Germany to the Netherlands has generated a debate over patent law here, where it is easy to block the sale of a rival's product even before an infringement claim is verified. Microsoft cited the potential consequences of a lawsuit brought against it in Germany by Motorola Mobility as a factor in its decision to move its logistics center into the Netherlands from Düren, a small German town near the Dutch border. Motorola Mobility has asked a court in Mannheim, Germany, to stop Microsoft from distributing its Xbox game consoles and Windows 7 operating system software because they use a video streaming technology that Motorola claims to own. The court in Mannheim is scheduled to rule on Motorola's request April 17. Microsoft is taking no chances. Thomas Baumgärtner, a Microsoft spokesman in Unterschleissheim, Germany, said the possibility that the court in Mannheim might grant Motorola's request and ban the European distribution of the Xbox and Windows 7 had prompted Microsoft, the U.S. software maker, to seek a friendlier base. The company began transferring its operations to a location in the Netherlands, which it will not disclose, this year. "The move is taking place as we speak," Mr. Baumgärtner said by telephone last week. In the past two years, Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft and Motorola Mobility have either introduced or defended themselves against patent claims in Germany. In one case, Apple won a ruling in February at a court in Düsseldorf that banned the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in Germany. Samsung quickly modified the device, releasing the Galaxy Tab 10.1N a month later. Apple sued to block sales of the new device, but a court in Munich denied its request last month. In March, Apple won a Munich court ruling against Motorola Mobility because Motorola had used one of Apple's patented photo management technologies on its mobile phones. Motorola said it had modified the devices to remove the infringing technology. Nokia is suing Apple in Düsseldorf and Mannheim, as well as in Britain and the Netherlands, alleging that Apple has used 13 Nokia patents without authorization in its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The lawsuits, often alleging violations of patents that are considered standard and essential parts of globally recognized mobile technology standards, prompted the European Commission to open investigations this year against Samsung and Motorola Mobility. Joachim Henkel, a professor of management at the Technical University in Munich, said big international companies were often seeking to exploit the German system for strategic advantage. Mr. Henkel said the high-profile patent and intellectual property disputes in the mobile phone sector, which have also involved courts in Asia, Britain and the United States, were slowing the pace of technological innovation by bogging down cutting-edge companies in court. "All of these infringement cases in Germany, Europe, the United States and Asia are having a hampering effect on innovation globally," Mr. Henkel said. Usually, what masquerades as a patent dispute is in actuality a dispute motivated by business strategy. The process has turned the German patent courts in Mannheim, Düsseldorf and Munich into some of the most overworked in Europe. Two-thirds of all patent claims in Europe are now filed in Germany, according to the Munich law firm Meissner Bolte, which does patent litigation. In a sense, Germany has become a destination for fast, effective one-stop patent challenges, much as Britain is for libel and the state of Delaware is for registration of U.S. companies. While these may benefit German law firms financially, technology experts and smaller German technology firms say the system is being abused to generate nuisance claims. Determining the substance of a patent claim in Germany can take years. During that time, a rival can effectively be stopped from using a basic piece of technology, often without a legal reason that holds up in the end.