You guessed it; Apple is getting sued over iPhone concepts. Minerva Industries served papers to Apple and satellite phone company Atlantic RT for patent infringement entitled “Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device,” where the company was recently awarded the United Sates patent No. 7,321,783 – beating out both firms.
In a six-page formal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday, alleged that representatives from Minerva informed Apple of their pending application with United States Patent and Trademark Office covering iPhone concepts back in November, but Apple “waited until approximately one week before the patent was to issue before sending prior art” in a desperate attempt to beat out Minerva’s filling with one of its own. Unfortunately for Apple, the patent office definitively ruled in Minerva’s favor, determining the claims within its application were patentable over Apple’s prior art and all other art that had been submitted to the office, notes AppleInsider. [via Macsimum News]
This is no different than the Apple vs. Cisco case from a year ago. Apple will do what Apple does best – WIN, WIN and WIN at all cost. I still remember the day when Jobs personally told me “he’s got teams of lawyers to handle this sort of things.”
Mobile entertainment and communication device
Document Type and Number: United States Patent 7321783
A mobile entertainment and communication device in a palm-held size housing has a cellular or satellite telephone capable of wireless communication with the Internet and one or more replaceable memory card sockets for receiving a blank memory card for recording data directly from the Internet and, in particular, musical performances that then can be selectively reproduced by the device for the enjoyment of the user, including both audio and visual recordings and reproductions. The device also includes a camera and microphone for recording images and sound within the range of the device that can be wirelessly transmitted, either selectively or automatically to a remote telephone. Further, the device includes sensors for sensing unusual conditions that may also be transmitted to a remote telephone, together with the location of the device as determined by a GPS section of the device.
wrong, sorry, “A mobile entertainment and communication device in a palm-held size housing has a cellular or satellite telephone capable of wireless communication with the Internet and one or more replaceable memory card sockets”
guess what, iphone has no replaceable memory card sockets, its got a hard drive, thats it. oh we thought of a similar nearly identical product, you have to pay us to continue to use it…fuck off minerva, whoever you are
UPDATE: looks like Apple wasn’t the only folks getting sued. EVERYONE and anyone having anything to do with making phones are getting sued!
“It’s a patent for a mobile phone with removable storage, an internet connection, a camera and the ability to download audio or video files. The patent holding firm who has the rights to this patent wasted no time at all. At 12:01am Tuesday morning, it filed three separate lawsuits against just about everyone you can think of, including Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, ATT, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a bunch of others. Amusingly, the company actually first filed the lawsuits on Monday, but realized it was jumping the gun and pulled them, only to refile just past the stroke of midnight. ”
[via Slashdot for Techdirt]