Here we go again folks, yet another frivolous lawsuit being filed in The Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) District court which as we all known is the favorite court of silly companies looking to get rich via questionable patent lawsuits. This time it is a company by the name of Tsera who are claiming that Apple, Microsoft and about twenty other companies named in the suit have been violating their patent for – “ methods and apparatus for controlling a portable electronic device using a touchpad “.
Apparently their patent relates to a touchpad that understands input demands by detecting the pattern of strokes and gestures on the input surface by the user. Tsera claims that several devices that includes the complete line of Apple iPods, the Zune from Microsoft and LG’s Chocolate mobile phone infringe on this patent.
Apple has been singled out in the lawsuit as the worst offender. Tsera complains that Apple knew of the patent’s existence as long ago as September 2004, but has been and “continues to be wilful, wanton and deliberate” in its use of touchpad technology, “carried out with full knowledge and awareness of the Plaintiff’s patent rights and without license from the Plaintiff”.
Tsera is seeking triple damages from Apple as a result of this “deliberate and wilful” copyright infringement, and standard damages from the other companies it accuses of patent infringement. It is also asking the court to require all of the accused companies to pay compulsory future royalty payments for the ongoing use of touchpad technology in their products.
Source: Telegraph :: Apple and Microsoft sued over touchpad interface
