FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO: A German district court has ruled that Apple Inc. violated patents acquired by Swiss security company Kudelski’s OpenTV business, which could force Apple to remove some video streaming features from popular products sold in Germany.

The ruling by a three-judge panel at the Duesseldorf district court said that Apple must not supply software that infringes an OpenTV patent covering the mixing of video, audio and online information in a single video stream.

The court’s decision puts pressure on Apple to seek a licensing deal from Kudelski, though the US technology leviathan could comply by removing or disabling the offending features from its video streaming products. In the worst case, it would have to pull the devices from the market.

Products that could be affected range from iPhones to iPad tablets, Mac computers, the iTunes music service, the Quicktime video software player and Apple TV, the Silicon Valley company’s video streaming box, according to court documents.