Katie MarsalA new legal complaint accuses Apple of infringing on a patent for a flash memory drive by selling its ubiquitous iPod nano and iPod touch players, among other devices.
The patent for a "Flash Memory Drive with Quick Connector" was originally filed in November 2004 by the suit's plaintiff, Henry Milan, and describes flash storage with male and female ends that allow the storage to attach to computers or other electronics through a "plurality" of connectors.
The complaint doesn't directly state what is infringed by the iPods but clearly points to the Dock Connector port, which is used by the jukeboxes to sync with computers as well as charge or stream media through to other devices. Accessories are also said to borrow on some claims made in the patent.
Apple was notified of its alleged violation of the patent in December of last year but has continued causing "irreparable damage" by continuing to sell the iPods without paying royalties, Milan and his representing lawyers from law firm Butzel Long note.
The overlapping timing of the patent and Apple's products may complicate the suit. Milan's filing was submitted just two months before the availability of the iPod shuffle, Apple's first flash-based player. The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm also released its first iPod nano in September 2005, four months before the patent was granted.
As compensation, Milan asks for triple damages and a jury trial. Apple hasn't commented on the matter and typically refrains from discussing ongoing lawsuits outside of necessary filings.
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24 Comments
Apple has to have a patent on the Dock Connecter somewhere. My offical prediction for the outcome of this lawsuit: ends in 3 days.
The first ipod with a dock connector predates that filing by about a year and a half. Going from hard drive to flash for a portable device is just a natural progression of technology. A patent on a variant like a flash based device with a dock connector just doesn't seem like should be legitimately patentable if it's already been done with hard drive devices. I think USB stick drives were available for several years too.
Pardon my ignorance, but doesn't Sansa, Microsoft, Creative and anyone who makes flash based MP3 players technically fall into this lawsuit's area as well?
Even if Apple doesn't have a patent on the dock connector, and even if Apple never used the dock connector prior to this patent being filed, I just don't see the infringement. If you read the actual patent, the "unique" aspect of it is a cable with interchangeable ends. It's sort of like those universal travel power adaptor kits that include different plug ends so you can plug your electrical devices into the AC power outlets in different countries. Also, the patent specifically lists the different interchangeable plugs included in the kit. They are all of the variants of Firewire and USB specification, not customized versions (and you can hardly patent uninvented plug variants). Finally, the patent only covered cables with 6 conductors (to accommodate Firewire).
So, not only is Apple's dock connector not covered by the types of plugs listed (both in form and number of wires), but it's also not interchangeable, which is the key to the whole patent.
Mankind might as well. This guy might sue God (if he exists), but would be off by several million years.