Patent troll Patent holding firm Somalis LLC filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Apple, accusing it of infringing a 2010 patent that the company says covers the “fast charge” feature of the battery used in the iPhone 6s. The lawsuit was filed in the ever-popular U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas.
The lawsuit claims that the iPhone 6s and any similar devices sold by Apple infringe upon U.S. Patent No. 7,657,386, titled “Integrated Battery Service System,” and seeks unspecified monetary damages or, alternatively, a running royalty on sales of infringing devices from the time of judgment going forward.
The device is said to use a technology that increases charging speeds for times when the battery is below 80% capacity, then switches to a trickle-charge mode above that, helping to extend the battery’s life.
On information and belief, the processor executes the control codes to continually adjust a charge level to the battery. The Product has a charging system according to which the system operates in fast-charge mode until the battery reaches 80% capacity and then adjusts to trickle-charge mode when the capacity exceeds 80%. When the capacity drops below 80%, the system gain adjusts to fast-charge operation. The purpose of the system is to reduce the charging level applied to the battery at high capacity in order to extend the battery lifespan. Thus, the system adjusts the charging level applied to the battery and does so continuously as the battery charge capacity repeatedly exceeds and drops below 80%.
Fresco, Texas-based Somalis has filed similar suits against Asus, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba in reference to the same patent. The company has already settled suits over the patent with Ford and Nissan.
