A Florida company called OSS Systems (which may possibly be owned by LG) has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that Apple’s fast booting method in OS X violates a 1999 LG patent detailing a method for quickly booting a computer.
An excerpt from the patent is as follows:
“A method for fast booting a computer system, comprising the steps of: A. performing a power on self test (POST) of basic input output system (BIOS) when the system is powered on or reset is requested; B. checking whether a boot configuration information including a system booting state which was created while executing a previous normal booting process exists or not; C. storing the boot configuration information from execution of the POST operation before loading a graphic interface (GUI) program, based on the checking result; and D. loading the graphic user interface (GUI) program.”
In other words, Mac OS X simply boots faster than OSS Systems appreciates. This is one of the real problems with the patent system in the US – patents like this are so broad, general, and really unoriginal that they’re bound to be violated, often resulting in a quick cash-out for patent trolls.
