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Apple Sued Over iPhone's Proximity Sensor in New Patent Troll Lawsuit

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511 Innovations, Inc. is the latest patent troll to file a complaint against Apple with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, claiming that the iPhone's proximity sensor infringes upon five of its patents.

The asserted patents¹, filed between 1999 and 2012, relate to various methods for measuring optical characteristics of an object, such as color spectrums, translucence, gloss, and position detection.

511 Innovations is a Texas-based non-practicing entity that does not appear to sell any sensor-related products, but instead seeks to enforce its patented technologies through litigation. Eastern Texas is a common district for patent holding firms to target larger companies like Apple, which has fought similar lawsuits from VirnetX, Dot 23, VoIP-Pal, and others in recent years.

The small firm acquired the asserted patents in 2013 from JJL Technologies, which claims to have sold world market-leading spectrophotometers, according to court documents filed electronically this week. It then licensed the patents to Spectral Sensors, whose website has been "under construction" since 2013. Further complicating things, JJL Technologies had acquired the patents itself from LJ Laboratories.

511 Innovations has demanded a jury trial and is seeking damages in the form of a reasonable royalty, plus interest and fees, in addition to a permanent U.S. sales ban on iPhones and all other infringing products and services.

Legal battles of this nature can prove costly. Last month, Apple agreed to license Cover Flow- and Time Machine-related patents from Mirror World Technologies for $25 million, and it agreed to pay another $25 million in a Siri-related in April. It is, however, close to escaping a $533 million verdict won by Smartflash, LLC, and a $625 million verdict won by VirnetX was overturned last week.

¹ U.S. Patent Nos. 6,307,629, 7,110,096, 7,397,541, 8,472,012, and 8,786,844.

Article Link: Apple Sued Over iPhone's Proximity Sensor in New Patent Troll Lawsuit
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/08/05/apple-vs-511-innovations/
MacRumors said:
Texas-based firm that does not appear to sell any sensor-related products, but instead seeks to enforce its patented technologies through litigation, thereby fitting the description of a patent troll.
Click to expand...

While I agree in this case, this sounds like a trolly troll, that definition is just plain wrong and unworkable. Not all companies that assert their patents and do not make a product that practices the patent technology is a troll.
 
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MacRumors said:
The non-practicing entity acquired the asserted patents in 2013 from JJL Technologies, which claims to have sold world market-leading spectrophotometers, according to court documents filed electronically this week. It then licensed the patents to Spectral Sensors, whose website has been "under construction" since 2013. Further complicating things, JJL Technologies had acquired the patents itself from LJ Laboratories.
Click to expand...

Maybe the issue with patent trolls could be resolved by saying that patents can't be sold to non-practicing entities...
 
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I literally LOL when it said "permanent sales ban" ya right, and I'm Batman. I wish I was the judge in these cases. I would totally make them the plaintent pay the legal costs to Apple for wasting Apple's time AND pay for the courts wasted time as well.
 
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Every time cases like this come up, where a company with no product, sues for it's "intellectual property" being violated, we talk about the patent system needing a reform...

Well, when the hell is that gonna happen eventually?

When is it gonna be some kind of requirement that if you legitimately invent something, that you have to put a product to market within some time frame, and if you do sell your idea, the company that buys it must put it to actual use instead of just hoard the IP and sue for infringement for an idea that they never put into real world use.

It's just insane.
 
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I'm sure Apple has tons of car patents but where is its iCar? People throwing the word patent troll haven't offered how to change the system. Do people seriously want it so if you are poor and have an awesome patentable idea, you can't patent it because you can't hire a factory to make the product? So only rich people can patent stuff? Insane.
 
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vmachiel said:
... why? This will only set precedent for more scummy patent trolls. And they won't just target Apple, but the whole industry. This drains resources, thus slowing innovation. We'll all lose.
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Precedent for what?

Patent trolls only exist because that's exactly what they expect to do.

None of them is sitting on the edge of their seat wondering if getting all those patents might finally pay off.
That's the plan to begin with for a genuine patent troll!

Glassed Silver:mac
 
vmachiel said:
... why? This will only set precedent for more scummy patent trolls. And they won't just target Apple, but the whole industry. This drains resources, thus slowing innovation. We'll all lose.
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How can it get any slower? We're already losing.
 
So, when is someone suing Apple because they use numbers in the Phone app? :rolleyes:
 
Just another case of one company trying to protect their patent from being stolen by Apple with the cultists, drones, and zealots, screaming "patent troll" because Apple is being sued instead of suing.
 
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Derekuda said:
Even if it is a scumy patent troll, I want to see Apple lose.
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Wow. Only recently returned to the comments on MR after hiatus and this is why. I don't know what the answer is, most newspaper sites, twitter, etc., have a similar problem in that the comments section for MR has turned primarily into a outlet for some very angry, disillusioned folks rather than intelligent or interesting discourse. For a tech site, MR does seem to have a bigger problem than most.
 
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bladerunner2000 said:
Because Apple is a patent troll too. It's called karma.
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Um. I don't think you understand what a Patent Troll is. They are basically shell companies that are set up to do nothing but sue actual productive companies. I don't see any stretch of the definition of Patent Troll where Apple fits, no matter what your opinion of Apple is. That doesn't mean Apple doesn't bully companies. But that's different.

You can actually invest in Patent Troll companies and the payoff is entirely based on lawsuit awards because the company has no other revenue.
 
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HiVolt said:
Every time cases like this come up, where a company with no product, sues for it's "intellectual property" being violated, we talk about the patent system needing a reform...

Well, when the hell is that gonna happen eventually?

When is it gonna be some kind of requirement that if you legitimately invent something, that you have to put a product to market within some time frame, and if you do sell your idea, the company that buys it must put it to actual use instead of just hoard the IP and sue for infringement for an idea that they never put into real world use.

It's just insane.
Click to expand...

not gonna happen, the republican lead congress is too busy trying to repeal the affordable care act. They don't have time to address actual issues.
 
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macfacts said:
I'm sure Apple has tons of car patents but where is its iCar? People throwing the word patent troll haven't offered how to change the system. Do people seriously want it so if you are poor and have an awesome patentable idea, you can't patent it because you can't hire a factory to make the product? So only rich people can patent stuff? Insane.
Click to expand...

Having patents you don't use doesn't make you a patent troll. When you sue somebody based on a no product patent, you get labeled a patent troll. So where has Apple sued somebody based on their supposed car patents? Go ahead, find a time.
 
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