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Apple Sued Over TouchScreen Patent Infringement
Techtree News Staff, Apr 09, 2009 1246 hrs ISTOn alleged infringement of Macbooks, iPhones and iPod Touch patents
Getting sued isn't something that any company would like. However, things look different for Apple who gets sued for patent infringement almost every fortnight. This time, it's a Taiwan based company, Elan Microelectronics, which has filed a suit against Apple for infringing its two multi-touch patent rights in Macbooks, iPhone and iPod Touch.
Elan Microelectronics has alleged Apple for infringing two touch screen patents and filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Dennis Liu told The New York Times via telephone that the companies had been talking over licensing the technology since the last two years. When no conclusion was derived, Liu said, "We couldn't find a common viewpoint with Apple, so we decided we had to take action."
According to Elan:
The patents cover innovations in touch-sensitive input devices incorporated into smartphones and computer touchpads. The first patent at issue, U.S. Patent 5,825,352 ("the '352 patent"), relates to touch-sensitive input devices with the ability to detect the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers.
This directly aims to conflict the multi-touch function of the iPhone platform and the one used in new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros. But Elan made it clear that Apple's multi-touch patent doesn't conflict with its multi-finger patent.
The second patent, U.S. Patent No. 7,274,353 ("the '353 patent"), is directed to touchpads capable of switching between keyboard and handwriting input modes.
Not to forget that, Apple had legally won US patent for the multi-touch screen interface back in January this year.
All these multi-finger patents are getting way too touchy over the touch-screen technology. Don't be surprised if you're asked to use your thumbs instead of fingers. It's uncertain at the moment on who's guilty for multi-touch patent woes - Apple, Elan or the patent office. One thing that very few would think of is - Why didn't Elan sue Apple when iPhone was launched?
Last November, Elan had solved its dispute with Synaptics over touchpad input device for computers and handheld devices.
As Eric Schmidt commented over Google Street View, "We get sued very day", the same stands true for any big company. Same thing applies to Apple, whether they agree or not.
Recently, Apple was sued for promoting iPhone and iPod Touch as eBook Reader and for using patented camera sensors technology. Earlier in February, Apple was sued over screen's rendering process used on iPhone and iPod Touch.
All we got to say is that the story goes on...
Elan Microelectronics has alleged Apple for infringing two touch screen patents and filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Dennis Liu told The New York Times via telephone that the companies had been talking over licensing the technology since the last two years. When no conclusion was derived, Liu said, "We couldn't find a common viewpoint with Apple, so we decided we had to take action."
According to Elan:
The patents cover innovations in touch-sensitive input devices incorporated into smartphones and computer touchpads. The first patent at issue, U.S. Patent 5,825,352 ("the '352 patent"), relates to touch-sensitive input devices with the ability to detect the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers.
This directly aims to conflict the multi-touch function of the iPhone platform and the one used in new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros. But Elan made it clear that Apple's multi-touch patent doesn't conflict with its multi-finger patent.
The second patent, U.S. Patent No. 7,274,353 ("the '353 patent"), is directed to touchpads capable of switching between keyboard and handwriting input modes.
Not to forget that, Apple had legally won US patent for the multi-touch screen interface back in January this year.
All these multi-finger patents are getting way too touchy over the touch-screen technology. Don't be surprised if you're asked to use your thumbs instead of fingers. It's uncertain at the moment on who's guilty for multi-touch patent woes - Apple, Elan or the patent office. One thing that very few would think of is - Why didn't Elan sue Apple when iPhone was launched?
Last November, Elan had solved its dispute with Synaptics over touchpad input device for computers and handheld devices.
As Eric Schmidt commented over Google Street View, "We get sued very day", the same stands true for any big company. Same thing applies to Apple, whether they agree or not.
Recently, Apple was sued for promoting iPhone and iPod Touch as eBook Reader and for using patented camera sensors technology. Earlier in February, Apple was sued over screen's rendering process used on iPhone and iPod Touch.
All we got to say is that the story goes on...
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(2) Comments
anonymous
,Earthship, on Apr 10, 2009 12:23 AM
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