Slash LaneThe complainant, TQP Development, owns a patent titled "Encrypted Data Transmission System Employing Means for Randomly Altering the Encryption Keys" filed in 1995. Along with Apple, the suit names Ticketmaster, Fandango, Live Nation, UPS, CVS, DHL, MetLife, Broadcast Music, eBay, Half.com, MicroPlace, Viva Group, ProStores, PayPal, and BillMeLater.
"When Apple and/or Apple's customers connect to Apple's Web site, a communication link is established between host servers and the client computer," the suit reads. "Data transmitted over this communication link comprises a sequence of blocks, and is transmitted as packets in a sequence over the communication link. Certain data transmissions (both from the client computer to the host server, and from the host server to the client computer) are encrypted according to the claimed method."
The complaint goes on to say that Apple generates, or instructs client computers to create, numerous pseudo-random key values for encryption of data transmitted. It specifically mentions the Apple Store at store.apple.com, alleging that it and "various" Web sites owned by the Cupertino, Calif., company infringe on U.S. Patent No. 5,412,730.
This isn't the first time TQP has sued a number of companies for its encryption methods. Last year, the company targeted Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Capital One and a number of other financial institutions in a similar suit.
The latest lawsuit targeting Apple was filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, where patent suits are often filed for favorable rulings. It requests a jury trial, and alleges that TQP Development is entitled to "damages, costs, expenses, prejudgment and post-judgment interest" from the list of defendants.
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
39 Comments
Oh for frigs sake...
Not again... How many people are gonna sue Apple for using small bits of their tech that could have been gotten by Apple through their own research. I say we put a limit on suing, so that only if the source code is 80% ripped off then you can sue. Just a suggestion...
There should be a whole sub-section of this forum for the amount of times Apple is in a lawsuit. And garbage ones at that
Good luck with this one:
United States Patent 5412730
Abstract:
A modem suitable for transmitting encrypted data over voice-grade telephone line. The modem is implemented by the combination of integrated circuit components including a microprocessor, a serial communications controller which communicates with connected data terminal equipment, and a modulator/demodulator for translating between voice band tone signals and digital data. Pseudo random number generators are employed at both the transmitting and receiving stations to supply identical sequences of encryption keys to a transmitting encoder and a receiving decoder. An initial random number seed value is made available to both stations. The random number generators are advanced at times determined by predetermined characteristics of the data being transmitted so that, after transmission has taken place, the common encryption key can be known only to the transmitting and receiving stations.
The first post in each of these threads should be, "The following people know nothing about the patents involved or the law, but have strong opinions about them nonetheless."