If Monday is complicated for you, imagine for the folks at Apple’s legal department, who took not one, not two, but three processes over the past week and is now full of cucumbers to sort out. Let’s take a look at the actions below.
Pinn
The first process of the day comes from Pinn, manufacturer of a headset wireless that was a hit on Kickstarter about two years ago. The company claims that Apple infringes one of its patents with the AirPods – the record in question concerns a «personal wireless media station that includes a main body and a wireless headset».
The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Central California. According to those responsible for the action, Pinn contacted Apple before the launch of the AirPods, providing information about the technology; the Apple, however, dispensed with the contact.
The plaintiffs note, in the lawsuit, that an Apple patent related to the AirPods rightly cites the Pinn patent that the company says has been infringed. The company asks that the case be tried by a jury, but does not specify a sum of money for damages; Apple, for its part, did not comment.
Aftechmobile
Meanwhile, the “non-practicing entity” (which is nothing more than a euphemism for Patent troll) Aftechmobile filed a lawsuit against Apple over the app Shortcuts and the functionality it brings. According to the company, the application infringes one of its patents, which describes «custom shortcuts» for automatic performance of tasks composed of multiple steps on an electronic device.
The process does not mention, at any time, the acquisition of Workflow by Apple – it was from there that, after all, the creation of the Shortcuts came out. Detail: Aftechmobile’s patent was registered in 2018, while Workflow was launched on the App Store in 2014.
That is, there is something strange about this story – and the Northern California District Court will have to determine what. We will wait to see the developments of this story.
Social Technologies LLC
Finally, we have the case of Social Technologies LLC, an Atlanta-based company (United States) that claims to have registered the trademark «Memoji» in the country – in fact, the company owns an Android application that has the same name.
Anyone with a good memory should remember that Social Tech has already appeared here with a similar process, but the complaint, this time, is different. The company now claims that Apple is misleading its consumers by using the “®” symbol in communications related to Memoji – under American law, this symbol is exclusive to trademarks registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office; for any other cases, companies should use the “™” symbol, which has a broader meaning.
The new lawsuit was filed in the Southern District Court of New York, and now it will be necessary to wait to see if the court will proceed with the action. Apple, as usual, did not comment on the case.
via AppleInsider, Apple World Today, Patently Apple