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Apple Lawsuit Express: Tsera Sues Apple + 19 for Touchscreen Patent Violation
Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 1:30 PM - by Bryan Chaffin
The Apple Lawsuit Express has picked up another passenger, as a company called Tsera has sued Apple and 19 other companies for patent infringement relating to the iPod's touchscreen controls. The company claims willful infringement, particularly on the part of Apple, of a patent the company says governs the way iPods and other digital media devices on the market are controlled.
The lawsuit was filed in the patent litigation-friendly Eastern District of Texas, in Marshall, Texas, and it names Apple, Microsoft, Bang + Olufsen, LG, and 16 other tech companies for willful violation of its patent.
According to The Telegraph, Tsera singled out Apple in its complaint for , "wilful, wanton and deliberate" abuse of the patent, about which it knew as early as September of 2004, which would presumably be when Tsera began asking Apple to license the patent.
Tsera has asked the court to award triple damages from Apple, while it seeks ordinary damages from the other defendants, as well as compulsory licensing for the future. The company claims that the Zune, LG's Chocolate phone, Apple's iPod, and other shipping devices all trod upon its patent.
Filed in 1999 and granted in 2003, the patent, "Methods and apparatus for controlling a portable electronic device using a touchpad," describes a method, "for controlling a portable electronic device, such as an MP3 player; portable radio, voice recorder, or portable CD player."
The abstract continues, "A touchpad is mounted on the housing of the device, and a user enters commands by tracing patterns with his finger on a surface of the touchpad. No immediate visual feedback is provided as a command pattern is traced, and the user does not need to view the device to enter commands."
Apple has been the subject of many and sundry patent lawsuits in recent years -- some frivolous, some seemingly legit -- and this one may fall under the legit category. The patent, as described, does appear to describe, at least in part, the way Apple's iPod and other devices work.
We are not patent attorneys, however, and these cases are often convoluted and drawn out. We'll be watching this case as we watch all of the lawsuits that make up the Apple Lawsuit Express.
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