“The ITC, which has the power to ban the import and sale of products, said it was responding to a request from the Taiwanese touchscreen maker Elan Microelectronics, which has a patent for technology that detects the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers on a touchscreen or touchpad,” Harvey reports. “Elan, which successfully settled a similar lawsuit against touchpad technology company Synaptics in 2008, accuses Apple of ‘knowingly and deliberately’ infringing the patent. The semiconductor design company is also suing Apple in California, alleging that Apple is infringing two of its multi-touch patents.”
“An eventual victory by Elan could lead to an exclusion order barring the US import of infringing Apple products,” Harvey reports. “A cease and desist order could also be granted to prevent Apple from selling any of the products that have already been imported.”
MacDailyNews Take: Steve Ballmer will come up with an original idea, drop 50 pounds, and grow a head full of dreads before either of those two outcomes occur.
Harvey reports, “Analysts said it is likely that Elan is seeking a licensing agreement with Apple for the multi-touch technology. Touchscreens for mobile devices have become the de facto standard for smartphones, following the hugely successful launch of the iPhone in 2007.”
Full article here.
Buy the weasels, who apparently have never done anything constructive with the technology, fire the whole bunch at the top, with no golden parachutes, and move on.
Wow, three years to initiate an investigation? I guess Elan wanted to be damn sure their accusations had merit.
The loser in cases like this should cough up their pink slips.
Apple will demonstrate prior art and invalidate this claim. Write it down….
@MDN Take: Steve Ballmer will come up with an original idea, drop 50 pounds, and grow a head full of dreads before either of those two outcomes occur.
Ballmer drop 50 lbs? According to the latest OSHA permits, Ballmer isn’t expected to take another crap until Friday. If there’s been a change please let me know ASAP so I can scramble an emergency response team.
STICK TO YOUR PRODUCT RELEASE SCHEDULES PEOPLE!!!
You ever notice how these suits always play the “knowingly and deliberately infringed” card? That’s because they can get triple damages if they can make that part of the accusation stick. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a patent case where they don’t allege “knowing and deliberate” infringement.
…it just bugs me is all.
Speaking of multitouch,
IPad 3G out on Friday.
1 more and its 25000. I guess MDN is holding off until tomorrow?
Been reading since the beginning. Time well wasted.
Of course it’s not infringement Apple can do it with only ONE or more fingers.
What Elan really wants isn’t a license, but for Apple to buy their product. And they’ve gone about it the right way to curry favor with Steve. NOT.
” Typical Apple fanboy mentality. This place is full of losers. Geez”
Then it looks like you’ve come to the right place.
‘Counting’ what do you expect, Ballmer the ‘man’ is just such an easy target but I note that unless he is in some way synonymous it is you who actually raised the Microsoft ‘comment’, so a bit of a shot in the foot there big boy.
Microsoft’s Bing/MSN Results Truly Horrifying — Loss Rate Balloons To ~$3 Billion A Year
Anyway, now that Apple is in throwing distance of overtaking Microsoft I expect more absurd rumours and patent infringement accusations to start crawling out of the woodwork. Will AAPL investors be smart enough to see through the BS?
I think we’ve reached a tipping point where most of them are, now.
The success of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and continuously rising Mac sales have poked too many holes in the ol’ anti-Apple bag of tricks for it to be all that effective anymore.
Touch screen has been going like crazy for how many years now? What makes it a patent infringement now?
@ Didn’t
And we’re gonna keep on doin it until it’s funny again!
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@: Mr link poster
Who gives a fsck about your data center. Almost as bad as some tool trying to brag about the size of his dick…
move on, idiot
Quoting MDN: “Steve Ballmer will come up with an original idea, drop 50 pounds, and grow a head full of dreads before either of those two outcomes occur.”
Sweet.
@ Mr. link poster
“Bing” isn’t a startup project. It’s a fresh coat of paint on the termite-ridden shack that was MSN Search. It’s been around for many years, and putting lipstick on that pig didn’t work.
“…Elan Microelectronics, which has a patent for technology that detects the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers on a touchscreen or touchpad,”
Hmm. My skin can detect the presence of two of more fingers. Maybe I should patent that.
Such is the lunacy of patents these days, typically thanks to TechnoTards running the patent offices. Most likely Elan’s patent will be thrown out as ‘obvious’.
I remember when the Weed Wacker patent was refused as ‘obvious’ despite the fact that the product was innovative and unique. The only obvious part was that you can cut down a weed with a string. If the Weed Wacker can’t get a patent, ‘two or more fingers on a touch’ whatever will easily be thrown out.
Nice try Elan. BTW: Considering the extremely late date of this lawsuit, I smell the stink of submarine patent fraud. This should be fun!
If the patent has merit (i.e., not prior art, etc.) and it applies to Apple’s designs, then it will play out in court. If not, then Apple will successfully dispute the Elan claims and move on.
Synaptics settled in 2008 and Apple has not seen fit to do so since then, so I suspect that Apple lawyers believe that they are in a reasonably strong position. I don’t know the technical particulars of this case, but the Macbook Pros have had a multi touch trackpad for several years, yet it does not appear that they are included in the patent infringement claim.
@ mr link poster
“I’m still wandering around our 100,000 sqft data centers looking for a couple of macs running anything enterprise for business.”
“our” data center? Do you own part of it? and who cares if macs are running in your piddly little business or not. It just makes it all the more impressive when you compare market cap between AAPL and MSFT.
Microsoft’s time in the sun is ending. Apple is on the rise. Deal with it. Things go in cycles.
You are the little man if you can’t see that. Either that or you are a paid MS Shill or an antiquated IT guy who stands to lose greatly if (when?) MS declines.
Why don’t Apple just buy up this shot company and then go on to sue some other industry players? Offer them a billion or two.