“Touchpad technologies company Elan Microelectronics Corps’ complaint to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) came ahead of Apple’s launch of the iPad, a much-anticipated touchscreen tablet computer, scheduled for Saturday,” AFP reports. “The design company claimed Apple is infringing on patents regarding touch-sensitive input devices with the ability to detect the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers.”
“The patents are violated in the iPhone, iPod Touch, MacBook and Magic Mouse products as well as the new iPad, Elan said,” AFP reports. “Elan demanded that the ITC bar Apple from importing the products into the United States, which are manufactured overseas, and prevent it from selling any of the products in the United States that it has already imported. The ITC will decide whether it will institute an investigation within 30 days, it said.”
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Tim Culpan reports for Bloomberg, “The ITC is a government agency set up to protect U.S. markets from unfair trade practices. If it agrees to investigate Elan’s complaint, it could finish its work in about 15 months.”
“Elan also sued Apple in April 2009 in federal court in California claiming infringement of the same patent,” Culpan reports. “That patent was affirmed after a California district court found Synaptics Inc. infringed that same technology in a 2008 ruling, Elan said. Elan had also claimed another patent was infringed in that lawsuit.”
Culpan reports, “The ITC claim is In the Matter of Certain Electronic Devices with Multi-Touch Enabled Touchpads and Touchscreens, No. 2719, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).
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