Roger Fingas
A group of firms operating under the aegis of Optis Wireless Technology are suing Apple over seven patents connected to LTE cellular standards.
Every LTE Apple device is affected, including not just iPhones but iPads and the Apple Watch, according to court documents. The plaintiffs say that as recently as January 2017, they were talking to Apple about licensing patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms, but came to no agreement.
Optis and its associates appear to be patent "trolls" — businesses that produce no tangible product and instead depend on patent licenses and lawsuits to generate income. The case was in fact filed through the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, infamous for siding with patent holders and being quicker than some other available courts.
Many of the plaintiffs' patents were purchased over the years from technology companies like Ericsson, Samsung, and LG. Nevertheless the complaint asks for a jury trial, and damages "at least in the form of reasonable royalties."
Based on its history Apple will likely try to get the case dismissed, or if not, settled out of court. The company already pays substantial sums in royalties, and adding more could cost millions of dollars per year.
Adding some precedent against Apple is that in August, the District Court found Huawei in violation of the same patents. That cost the Chinese smartphone maker $10.6 million.
The Optis complaint was discovered by MacRumors.
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19 Comments
parasite | ˈperəˌsīt | noun
An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense. • derogatory a person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return.
Shouldn’t these guys sue Intel or Qualcomm for the LTE related problem?
i need to file a patent in US that claim if some electronic connects to some other electronic with magical electronically that do things we have not dream of yet. So I can sue everyone, especially Apple. And donate all the money to the lawyer association of USA and maybe some poor kids in mother Russia. Then my life is fulfilled.
Or maybe Apple should be fair and pay what is owed for using licensed technology. Why does Apple always get the benefit of the doubt here. Apple is just as greedy.