“Apple is facing the first of what may be many lawsuits claiming infringement of patents pertaining to technology in its new iPhone,” Daniel Del’Re reports for TheStreet.com.
“SP Technologies of St. Petersburg, Fla., is calling for Apple to pay royalties for the ‘willful and deliberate’ infringement of a patent it says Apple used illegally for the iPhone’s keyboard,” Del’Re reports.
“If a judge or jury rules that a defendant willfully used someone else’s intellectual property, then the defendant may have to pay punitive damages equal to three times the economic loss that the plaintiff suffered,” Del’Re reports. “SP filed the suit in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, which is considered to be sympathetic to plaintiffs in patent infringement cases.”
Del’Re reports, “Apple is a big target for patent suits given the technical complexity of its products and its deep financial reserves. Plaintiffs in cases like this often hope that the threat of an injunction and treble damages will compel a defendant to settle without a trial.”
More details in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bob R.” for the heads up.]