[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois [official website] on Friday dismissed [opinion, PDF] the patent lawsuit between Apple and Motorola [corporate websites]. Judge Richard Posner dismissed the case with prejudice, ruling that Apple cannot seek an injunction against Motorola. Apple had sought an injunction against some of Motorola’s phones, alleging that the company infringed upon its patents. Posner criticized Apple’s attempt to argue patent infringement based on evidence of customer good will:

[I]n its latest written and oral submissions Apple attempts what I told its legal team at a pretrial conference I would not let it do in the liability trials then envisaged: turn the case into an Apple versus Motorola popularity contest. Apple wanted me to allow into evidence media reports attesting to what a terrific product the iPhone is.

The judge has continuously expressed his frustration about both parties’ unclear arguments. As recently as Wednesday, Posner expressed his doubts [JURIST report] about the requested injunction.

Posner revived [JURIST report] the case between the two rivals last week granting [order] a request from Apple to hear its patent infringement case against Motorola. He had tentatively dismissed [JURIST report] Apple’s patent infringement lawsuit reasoning that allowing the company to proceed would be contrary to public interest. In February, Apple filed suit [JURIST report] against Motorola in the US District Court for the Southern District of California [official website] seeking an injunction to stop the company from bringing patent claims against Apple in Germany. Apple had brought two separate lawsuits [JURIST report] against Motorola in October of last year alleging that several of Motorola’s products infringe six patents owned by Apple.