Volume VII

Issue : 8: April 23, 2009

• AOL Seeks Court Decision on Yahoo Patents
• Microsoft Ordered to Pay US$388 Million in Patent Dispute
• The U.S. Declines to Classify the Use of Proxy Servers as Sophisticated
• Europe Orders ISPs to Record Emails and Telephone Calls
• Apple Sued for Patent Infringement in U.S.
• Pirate Bay Verdict A Win For Copyright Owners

Home > Volume VII > Issue 8: April 23, 2009 > Apple Sued for Patent Infringement in U.S.

Apple Sued for Patent Infringement in U.S.

Elan Microelectronics Corporation has filed an action in the United States District Court for Northern California, seeking damages for patent infringement and an injunction prohibiting Apple’s use of Elan’s patents in various Apple products. Elan’s patents cover the touch sensitive human interface components for which the iPhone is widely known, and which appears in other Apple products. The first patent at issue relates to the detection of multiple fingers on the screen, and the other deals with touchpads that switch input modes.

The parties had been in discussions over licensing these technologies, but when negotiations broke down, Elan started its lawsuit. In 2008 Elan settled a lawsuit with Synaptics Inc. over the use of its touchpads, which are also enabled for multiple finger input. Prior to the settlement, a court had found that Elan’s multiple finger input patent was valid.

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