A German court has granted British telecoms group Vodafone a preliminary injunction against Deutsche Telekom's mobile unit T-Mobile over its sales terms for Apple's iPhone.

According to the injunction, filed at a regional court in Hamburg, the goal is to stop the sale of the iPhone if it is sold only in connection with a 24 month T-Mobile contract and/or is blocked in such a way that it can only be used in a T-Mobile network.

German customers can buy iPhone for 399 euros ($584) but are obliged to agree to a 24 month contract with T-Mobile.