Not too long ago, Apple was threatening rival Palm about infringing Apple’s “multitouch” patents (that’s the technology that allows users to use two fingers on a touch screen to do things like expand pictures). Apple has been rolling the technology out on its various products, starting with the iPod/iPhone, then the MacBook Air and MacBook and MacBook Pro. Just a few months ago, Apple COO Tim Cook said “we will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we’ll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal. I don’t know that I can be clearer than that.”
Yeah. about those patents you thought you had… Turns out a Taiwanese company thinks it’s the real owner – and it’s got one win under its belt on the technology already. Elan Microelectronics is suing Apple for infringing two Elan patents. Elan has already gotten a preliminary injunction that led to a favorable settlement with another competitor, Synaptics.
More on the claims, plus BigLaw speculation after the jump.
Computerworld summarizes:
“The ’352 patent is a fundamental patent to the detection of multiple fingers on a touch pad or touch-sensitive input device to enable the detection and use of a multifinger gestures in various applications,” said Elan’s lawsuit, referring to Patent 5,825,352, which was issued in 1998 to Logitech Inc. Elan claims that it now owns the patent. …
“Apple has been on notice of its infringement of the ’352 patent since early 2007,” said Elan’s filing, “and has continued to utilize the ’352 patent invention without authorization. In addition, the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch also permit users to switch the capacitive touch screen between keyboard and handwriting modes, and thus falls under the scope of the ’353 patent.”
Patent 7,274,353, titled Capacitive Touchpad Integrated With Key and Handwriting Functions,” was granted to Elan in September 2007.
Elan’s long-time outside counsel is Yitai Hu (Kansas BA ’91, Maryland JD ’94), currently of Alston & Bird. Prior to that, he was with Akin Gump. In fact, the firm opened Silicon Valley and Taiwan offices just to convince him to join from Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury). When Hu left, the office was teetering on the brink of closing.
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