Apple is no stranger to lawsuits involving its uber-popular iPhone and iPhone 3G smartphones. Generally speaking, iPhone lawsuits have little merit and are usually brushed off as frivolous. But, there’s a specific type of lawsuit that has stung Apple in the past – the kind of lawsuit that claims patent infringement by the iPhone. Picsel Technologies has filed just such a suit against Apple in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
Apple recently battled Klausner Technologies over the iPhone’s user of Visual Voicemail to give users a graphical representation of what’s in their voicemail inbox. The patent battle ended with Apple (among others) licensing the tech from Klausner in an apparent move to save face and keep Visual Voicemail on the iPhone. The Visual Voicemail case highlights Apple’s willingness to settle patent infringement cases that could jeopardize the company’s iPhone windfalls.
This time around, Apple is facing a showdown with Picsel Technologies. The technology that the iPhone uses to quickly and smoothly render graphics on the iPhone’s display is allegedly covered in a patent held by Picsel. The company claims that without Picsel’s graphics rendering technology, iPhone users would suffer long delays when zooming or panning around documents, web pages and pictures.
Should Apple go all the way to trial and lose, Picsel is asking for compensation and punitive damages amounting to triple the compensation.
[Via: Yahoo]