Apple Hit With False Patent Lawsuit

Did Apple market its iPod and iPhone using expired patents? That’s the claim of an Austin Texas group asking a court to fine the Cupertino, Calif. company and several wireless carriers $500 per falsely-labeled product. The Americans for Fair Patent Use is suing under the federal False Marketing Statute.

The AFPU is also suing Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and Samsung. The group alleges Apple marketed the iPhone, iPod touch, fifth- and sixth-generation iPod classic and third- and fourth-generation iPod nano using patents that had expired prior to the products reaching store shelves. The patents in question are U.S. Patent Nos. 4,577,216, 4,631,603, 4,819,098, and 4,907,093.

“Despite the fact that all of the ’216, ’603, ’098 and ’093 patents expired prior to the first sale in the United States of any Apple Product, Apple knowingly and intentionally marked the user manuals, user guides, or product information guides (or the equivalent) for these products at various times with the patent numbers of these patents,” the suite alleges to the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.

The group alleges the “false marking” of Apple marketing material constitutes “harmful conduct.”

The suit calls for the court to fine Apple and the other defendants $500 per wrongly-market product. The suit asks that $250 go to the government, while $250 go to the AFPU.

In 2009, Apple said it was a defendant in more than 47 patent lawsuits.

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[AppleInsider]

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Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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Joseph
$250 per device sold for the AFPU? What a bunch of trolls. Even if true, the mislabeling hasn’t harmed them.
Crusader
Why should MSFT be punished for illegal behavior – but AAPL gets away with it? I don’t get these double standards.
Johnny Rocket
Not being a Patent Lawyer, my opinion is thus highly uninformed. However, with that disclaimer, it seems to me that any competitor’s patent lawyers could have researched the patents Apple listed, and determined if and when they expired. One would suspect that at some point in the history to the devices and manuals in question, the patents cited did indeed apply.
Some attorney for Apple no doubt encouraged them to reference the patents; if AFPU profits from this suit, we probably will see “Use By Dates” on all future patent numbers.
And if I was harmed as a consumer, where are the Class Action Legal Eagles, attempting to create a mass tort?
Ictus75
Some people need to get a lifeâ€¦
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@ Ictus75
Amen to that.
SuperMoose
Assuming that Apple has sold 250 million of the iPods and iPhones listed above, if Apple had to pay $500 per device, that adds up to 125 BILLION DOLLARS.
In trying to make sure patents are labeled correctly, the AFPU would wipe out one of Americas best companies. At least we’ll all be able to sleep at night knowing nobody is labeling products with out of date patents!
ChuckEye
Also seen in Apple documentation…
“Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. Apple is not responsible for printing or clerical errors.”
So even if the inclusion of a Patent number could be considered “marketing” (which seems like a stretch), I’m pretty sure they’ve got a no-fault clause built in…
firesign3000
Sue Apple! All the cool kids are doing it!
http://www.microsoft.com WHG
“Assuming that Apple has sold 250 million of the iPods and iPhones listed above, if Apple had to pay $500 per device, that adds up to 125 BILLION DOLLARS.”
Sounds good to me! We get rid of Apple and Steve Jobs goes and commits seppuku. It could be a day to celebrate!
SuperMoose
@WHG if you hate Apple so much, why are you on Cult of Mac?
Go find something more productive to do than hating on Apple at a website devoted to them. Asshole.
Zell127
It seems like everyone is wanting something for nothing. It’s seems way to easy to get sued in the USA. I could sneeze down there and get sued for assault lol
imajoebob
I actually agree that companies have an obligation to publish accurate patent information. It’s part of the responsibility that comes with being granted the patent. But I doubt anyone would consider each and every iPod sold with this manual as a violation, just each new or updated product. They didn’t make a new claim of patent every time they sold a device, just each time they issued a new product. So all these manufacturers might be on the hook for thousands of dollars, not millions or billions. In fact, they might even be able to use the simple errata disclaimer usually included in every manual as a defense.
mootilda
patent trolling at its finest
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So my real question is: is there a WordPress plug-in that allows you to provide CS functionality via e-mail?