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Apple ordered to pay university a tiny $506 million patent fine
Apple is no stranger to patent lawsuits, but the tech giant has been dragged through the mud again after a judge added a hefty additional fine to a case originally heard in 2015. The company has been ordered to pay the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) $506 million for infringing on a patent involving processors found in some versions of the iPhone. The patent was obtained by WARF in 1998.
Nokia sues Apple over a slew of patent infringements
Nokia announced today that it has sued Apple for patent infringement in Germany and the US. According to the suit, Apple did agree to license a few Nokia patents in 2011, but has declined offers since then. "Through our sustained investment in research and development, Nokia has created or contributed to many of the fundamental technologies used in today's mobile devices, including Apple products," said Ilkka Rahnasto, Nokia's head of Patent Business, in a statement. The suit was filed in Regional Courts in Dusseldorf, Mannheim and Munich in Germany and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. A total of 32 patents are involved and cover a range of technologies that include everything from the display and user interface to chipsets and video encoding. Apple is no stranger to patent infringement lawsuits. It paid $24.9 million in a Siri patent lawsuit earlier this year and $625 million in a Facetime patent lawsuit as well. Of course, it's had the occasional victory too, like when it sued Samsung for patent infringements and won.
Apple's $120M patent victory over Samsung reinstated on appeal
Once again, the tables have turned in the Apple vs. Samsung patent saga. Back in February, a US circuit appeals court overturned the $120 million victory awarded to Apple way back in 2014, claiming that Samsung didn't infringe on patents for swipe to unlock and an quick-link feature that turns information like addresses or phone numbers into links. But here we are six months later, with a different federal appeals court reinstating the case's first decision awarding $120 million to Apple.
Apple sued (again) for violating force touch patents
You probably haven't heard of Immersion, but it's a company that does two things well: haptic technology and hiring lawyers. The company is already suing Apple, claiming that the iPhone 6/6S and Apple Watch's force touch violate several of its patents. Now, the company is doubling down, firing another legal broadside against the Mac-maker for the same thing, although weirdly, AT&T has been roped in too. According to 9to5 Mac, the reason that the phone company is included is because, wait for it, it sells Apple products. We're too polite to point out that Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint exist, but we imagine it won't be long before they're added to the case.
Apple agrees to pay $24.9 million to settle Siri patent lawsuit
Apple has agreed to settle yet another lawsuit from the ever-growing list of litigations it's battling to the tune of $24.9 million. This particular case, filed back in 2012 by a company called Dynamic Advances, alleges that Siri infringes on a patent owned by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a private research university in Troy, New York. Rensselaer's patent application was granted in 2007, years before Siri was released, and Dynamic Advances holds the exclusive license to it. The lawsuit was supposed to go to trial next month, but the settlement terms require the plaintiff to drop the case completely.
Immersion sues Apple for infringing on haptic feedback patents
Apple's the star in the latest chapter of Immersion's court drama. The California haptic feedback developer known for going to court to guard its technologies has filed a lawsuit against Apple and AT&T. It says the haptic feedback systems of the Apple iPhone 6/6Plus, iPhone 6/6s Plus and Watch/Watch Sport/Watch Edition infringe upon two of its patents. Those are no. 8,619,051, which is named "Haptic Feedback System with Stored Effects," and "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations" that's filed under no. 8,773,356. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus allegedly infringe upon a third patent, as well: no. 8,659,571 named "Interactivity Model for Shared Feedback on Mobile Devices."
Jury rules Apple owes $234 million for University of Wisconsin patents
Apple's loss of a patent infringement case to the University of Wisconsin could turn out to be a costly one, as a jury ruled today that it owes the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation $234 million. The technology at issue is used for A7, A8 and A8X processors (found inside the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 series, iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, Apple TV 4 and other devices), and is supposed to increase efficiency. Apple told Reuters that it plans to appeal the ruling, but had no further comment. It had argued that WARF deserved a total fee of less than the $110 million Intel paid in a settlement over the patents, but the jury decided differently. While it can certainly handle the financial hit ,the trouble may not stop there -- WARF has also filed a lawsuit against Apple for its new A9 CPUs that are inside the new iPhone 6s family and iPad Pro. Update: WARF managing director Carl Gulbrandsen said "The jury recognized the seminal computer processing work that took place on our campus. This decision is great news for the inventors, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and for WARF." [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images[
Video on demand firm sues Apple over streaming patents
Remember OpenTV, the video on demand software developer that sued Netflix for allegedly violating its streaming patents? It's back. The company is suing Apple in the belief that virtually everything Apple makes (such as the Apple TV and iTunes) is infringing on five streaming-related patents, including ones for interactive TV and copy protection. Supposedly, you're borrowing OpenTV technology when you download or rent a movie through Apple's software. The folks at 1 Infinite Loop haven't issued a formal response to the suit, although there's definitely pressure to offer compensation. OpenTV's parent company, the Kudelski Group, brags that it already has licensing deals (Netflix settled earlier this year) with the likes of Disney and Google -- Apple didn't necessarily use OpenTV's ideas, but it'll go against the grain if it fights back.
Apple loses a patent battle over Skytel's two-way pager tech
The greatest patent battle Apple ever waged... was with Samsung. The funniest, probably, is with Skytel, a company, kids, that made makes pagers. A jury has found that the iPhone and other Apple devices used Skytel technology without permission. Mobile Telecommunication Technologies, which owns the patents (and the most insipid name in tech), only got a tenth of what it hoped to get out of Apple. However, the patents in this case were issued in the middle to late-90s, meaning they either recently expired or will do soon. As Bloomberg puts it, SkyTel's 2-Way pager was "the smartphone of its day." Apple denied infringing the patents, adding that MTel was looking trying to take credit for emoji and calendar invites. Apple's lawyer, Brian Ferguson, told the jury that its opponent was entitled to $1 million, at most. [Image credit: Marty Katz via Getty Images]
