If it’s Tuesday (or Wednesday, or Thursday, or…) it must be time for another patent troll to sue Apple. This time, its over patents for touch screen features used in Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices.
Neodron, an Irish shell company formed in late 2018, is suing Apple and numerous other firms over the infringement of four patents dealing with capacitive keyboards and sensors used in the iPhone 11, third-generation iPad Pro, and similar products by companies such as Samsung and Microsoft.
The company claims Apple has used its keyboard technology in the design of the iPhone 11. They say their keyboard patents were registered in October of 2010 and March of 2011.
The other two patents are related to proximity and touch sensors, which Neodron says is being used illegally in Apple’s iPhone 11 and the third generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The proximity sensor and touch sensor patents were filed with the U.S. Patent Office in June of 2014 and June of 2016 respectively.
Neodron also filed lawsuits against other tech firms the same day they filed against Apple, other companies hit by lawsuits include Amazon, ASUS, LG, Microsoft, Sony, and Samsung on the same day, involving the same patents.
Neodron has filed numerous patent infringement lawsuits in the past. In 2019, they claimed that most of the major consumer electronics companies – including Amazon, Dell, HP, and Samsung – had infringed on many of its patents.
Patent trolling is when companies buy up cheap patents in bulk and scan them for any concepts that may exist in well-known technology produced by large companies. The patent trolls then file lawsuits in hopes of forcing a large settlement from the companies.