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Apple challenges $625.5M patent-infringement award

Posted by jhansonxi on · 11 comments
Associated Press via Yahoo!; By Jessica Mintz 		Mail this story
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Apple Inc. is challenging a federal jury's order that it pay $625.5 million in damages for violating a small technology company's patents. If upheld, the verdict would be one of the largest in a patent lawsuit. Last Friday, the jury in Tyler, Texas, found that Apple infringed on three patents held by Mirror Worlds LLC, a company founded by Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter to commercialize his ideas. The patents cover characteristic features on Apple's Macintosh computers, iPods and iPhones. The technologies include Cover Flow, which lets users flip through album covers and other content as if through a stack of cards; Time Machine, which performs automatic backups; and Spotlight, which is software for searching computer hard drives.

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Comments (11)

cabreh ·
I am totally opposed to software patents. But, in this case, all I can say is:

Let those who live by the lawsuit, die by the lawsuit!

Two words spring immediately to mind.

First word: poetic Second word: justice

r_a_trip ·
Wouldn't that be "poetic injustice"?
cabreh ·
Actually seeing Apple lose it's challenge would seem like true justice to me. Now if they didn't run around suing everyone else I would be supporting them. Since they are as good at being a patent troll as any true patent troll company I give them no sympathy whatever.

jezuch ·
On the other hand, a "small technology company" receiving $600+M from three, from what I can see, trivial software patents... ugh.
feistyfeline ·
if you cant beat them bankrupt them through software and trivial patent lawsuits.
golem ·
I keep wondering how much of an outrage it will take to get software patents outlawed. Maybe this is it.
tracyanne ·
@golem, I doubt it. It will get a lot worse.
jacog ·
If you outlaw software patents, then only outlaws will have software patents! Oh, no wait... that's a different debate. Moving along...
tracyanne ·
Quoting:If you outlaw software patents, then only outlaws will have software patents!


It will still be safer fro the rest of us, as typically they only use them on each other.
caitlyn ·
I agree with tracyanne. The patent nonsense will only get worse. If a court upholds the patents Microsoft is using in their suit against Motorola I shudder to think how bad things could get.
Bob_Robertson ·
My position on patents of any kind is no secret, I'm not surprised about how awful this whole spaghetti mess of statutes and court decisions is getting.

I agree with Tracyanne, they won't be shot down, yet, and it will get much worse.

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