Immersion Corporation today announced that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against Apple Inc., AT&T Inc., and AT&T Mobility LLC. Immersion has also filed a patent infringement complaint against Apple, AT&T and AT&T Mobility in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaints allege that the Apple iPhone 6, Apple iPhone 6 Plus, Apple iPhone 6s, Apple iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition infringe certain Immersion patents covering haptic feedback systems and methods in electronic devices.
“Immersion and its employees have worked diligently for over 20 years to invent solutions and build an ecosystem of content and playback devices that enable realistic and rich digital experiences. Touch matters, as it informs, excites and humanizes the digital world we interact with every day. Many of our licensed customers are market leaders that benefit from our innovation in touch technology,” said Immersion’s CEO Victor Viegas in a statement.
“While we are pleased to see others in the industry recognize the value of haptics and adopt it in their products, it is important for us to protect our business against infringement of our intellectual property in order to preserve the ecosystem we have built and the investments that we have made in continuing to advance haptic experiences,” added Viegas. “We will vigorously defend the intellectual property we have developed when it is infringed.”
In the ITC complaint, Immersion is seeking an exclusion order preventing the importation, sale for importation, and sale after importation of infringing Apple devices into the United States by the defendants and appropriate cease and desist orders. In the U.S. District Court suit, Immersion is alleging infringement of the same patents and is seeking to stop further infringement by the defendants, and to recover damages.
The complaints assert infringement by the Apple iPhone 6, Apple iPhone 6 Plus, Apple iPhone 6s, Apple iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition of the following two Immersion patents:
• U.S. Patent No. 8,619,051: “Haptic Feedback System with Stored Effects”
• U.S. Patent No. 8,773,356: “Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations”
The complaints also assert infringement by the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus of the following Immersion patent:
• U.S. Patent No. 8,659,571: “Interactivity Model for Shared Feedback on Mobile Devices”
Source: Immersion Corporation
I like immersion… About 15 years back or i Used their tecnology in mice and some controlers …
But i feel this is Another “lets see if we can milk Apple” effort… ……Will go nowhere, unless apple is directly copying their mechanisms or code.
Which i seriously doubt .
Hec i had toys from 60s/70s that had haptic feedback.
I recall some toy guns from Mattel that when you pulled the trigger would make a bang sound and they would fake a recoil with a haptic engine built into them. Early 70s, IIRC.
Apparently they think they own the entire concept of haptic feedback.
Apple may be in trouble with this one. If you peruse Immersions website, they make it pretty clear that Android devices which contain similar tech to what Apple has embedded in their devices have licensed their technology. And Immersion seems to have an impressive list of products, past and present, which utilize their IP.
That said, I’m not sure why Immersion is only claiming fault on 3 of thier patents- they apparently have a portfolio of 1900 patents. Will be an interesting case.
Depends on what you mean by ‘similar tech’ they don’t own the concept of Haptic feedback only certain ways of achieving it. Not sure at present if we know the precise details of how each achieves the particular result.
They forgot all the MacBooks and new touch pad now with haptic feedback. They are going for the meat and potatoes here, but I think it’s still a lowball move. I agree with everyone they can’t corner the market on the concept that things shake when you activate a trigger.
great article