Apple wins patent trial brought by man who claimed to have invented iPhone

Edvard Pettersson and Valerie Reitman report for Bloomberg News that Apple doesn’t infringe the patent of a 70-year-old electrical engineer [Richard Ditzik] who claims he came up with the idea for the smartphone, a federal jury in Los Angeles said today.

Brief article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Rainy Day” and “Jaribbs” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
Apple in court to man who claims to have invented iPhone: No, you didn’t – November 20, 2013
Apple heads to trial against man claiming to have invented iPhone – November 12, 2013
NetAirus Technologies sues Apple, says entire iPhone concept infringes on its patent – May 4, 2010

22 Comments

      1. It’s not a lie. I know this is a little cerebral for the little right-winger brain, but the idea is basically that every great achievement is built on the shoulders of giants. Let’s take an example; maybe that will make it easier for you. Apple builds the iPhone, which was possible because of previous inventions like the microprocessor and the Internet.

        The Internet is possible because of government defense spending programs that funded research into connecting computer networks.

        And in early 2012 the defense department announced that it was funding research into basic microprocessor research.

        But if you want to think of government spending as a boondoggle funding the lavish lives of Cadillac welfare moms, well, go for it. There’s a TV station for you over in Foxland. Meanwhile Apple will keep making amazing products based on the fruits of government spending programs.

  1. It could easily be that this person was motivated by the flood of patent suits against Apple, where apparently Apple ends up on the losing end of quite a few, so he figured, there is nothing to lose here, and one never knows. In a way, chances were much better than buying a lottery ticket and hoping for a jackpot…

    1. ‘Apple ends up on the losing end of quite a few’ <-Since when? In recent years I'm aware of Apple losing TWO patent lawsuits. Meanwhile, Apple ends up on the winning end almost always.

      Hopefully, historical hindsight will explain the motivations of patent trolls and dire wishful thinkers. But it is certainly quite obvious that Apple is #1 on the planet, which makes it THE big fat target for patent trolling. I watched this same crap go down while I was at Kodak when it was still a high flier. And yes, Kodak lost a couple, won most.

      1. They do indeed lose patent suits, but these are usually extremely obscure ones and of very little significance. In most of those cases, they settle with the patent troll to make the whole thing just go away.

        But the main reason for all thes trolls is most likely what you said; big fat target that comes with being the biggest company in the world.

        1. Steve Gibson (on the ‘Security Now’ podcast at TWiT) gave an excellent talk about how patent trolls, even those with 100% invalid or out-of-date patents, scam the TechTard world and screw them out of $millions. He went into detail about the NewEgg’s efforts to fight these scam parasites. Earlier in the year NewEgg won on appeal against a patent troll who faked owning a patent on Internet retail ‘shopping carts’. They just lost the first round on a bogus patent for encrypting ye olde modem data transfers to the tune of I think $2.3 million. But they are expected to trample the trolls on appeal. The first round was held in that famous district for patent troll lawsuits in Texas. I forgot the name of their clown judge over there.

          Leo Laporte pointed out that it can be cheaper to settle, even with scum parasite liars. But both he and Gibson were cheering on NewEgg for having the balls and money to kill off this patent troll permanently, which is likely to be the end result.

          Meanwhile, Apple happily just killed off the liar who said he invented core iPhone tech. Bravo Apple.

          While I was at Kodak I chatted on the phone with a patent troll who’d bought the ‘shutter glasses’ version of watching 3D motion media. He was plying me for ammo to use in a lawsuit. He ended up being the inspiration for the eventual ‘submarine patent’ law to stop his activity. But clearly, it didn’t stop patent trolling.

    1. Perhaps you need to open up your Bible and read some Proverbs before you post again:
          Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

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