Roger Fingas
A company called Red Rock Analytics in a new lawsuit charges that Apple is infringing a patent covering transceiver technology in Wi-Fi chips.
The U.S. patent, No. 7,346,313 — "Calibration of I-Q Balance in Transceivers" — was issued to Red Rock in March 2008, and any Apple product compatible with 802.11n or later is in violation, according to a complaint submitted through a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. That district is a notorious venue for patent lawsuits, since it has relatively little other traffic and its judges are thought to be friendly to patent holders.
Red Rock is asking for an injunction against further infringement, along with attorney fees and damage compensation, including pre- and post-judgment interest.
Details about Red Rock are otherwise difficult to come by, except that the firm officially operates out of Swampscott, Mass. It previously launched an Eastern District lawsuit against Samsung over the same patent, court documents say, but the state of that case is uncertain. Samsung did file a countersuit.
A notable inaccuracy in the Red Rock v. Apple submission is that it identifies Apple's "principal place of business" as 1 Infinite Loop — the company's official corporate address was switched to Apple Park in Feb. 2018.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
18 Comments
.... and Red Rock comes in just under the wire, as Apple will close the only 2 stores in the Eastern District of Texas tomorrow.
Roger - can you read the complaint and summarize it in the article?
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of TexasNo surprise there.
1. Eastern District of Texas, even though neither litigant lives there. So Red Rock's a patent troll.
2. If 802.11n and later are the problem, why sue Apple? They didn't invent 802.11n. Oh wait, $$$ that's why.
3. They already tried this scam on Samsung and it didn't fly there either.
I think I can guess how this case will be resolved.
Patent trolls should be outlawed. This is ridiculous.