Case Filed: Apr 19, 2012
Case Closed: May 22, 2014
Court: California Northern
District Court
Judge: William H. Orrick
Case Summary:
Villanova, Pennsylvania-based FlatWorld
Interactives, LLC filed a complaint against Apple, claiming the company violated
their patents related to touch screen technology
.
Patents-in-suit:
The patents at issue were: US6920619
and RE43318 both entitled ‘User interface for removing an object from a display,’
originally issued to Slavoljub Milekic in Jul 19, 2005 and Apr 17, 2012,
respectively. The patents expire[i]
by Aug 28, 2017 and Jul 18, 2027. The patents are currently assigned[ii]
to FlatWorld (source: MaxVal’s Assignment
Database.)
As in complaint:
The Apple products that the suit
claimed infringing included iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, iPad Nano (sixth
generation), MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Magic Mouse in combination with any Mac
running OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.1 or later and Magic Trackpad in combination
with any Mac running OS X Snow Leopard v.10.6.4 or later. FlatWorld alleged
that accused products comprise a screen and a computer, with a pointing device
that manipulates images on the screen, in which when one or more images is
dragged at a velocity that exceeds a threshold velocity, the system responds by
removing the image(s) from the screen without leaving a representative of the
image on the screen.
FlatWorld sent a notice letter in
Sep 2007, referencing the '619 patent and the '318 reissue patent application. According
to the complaint, Apple “with actual knowledge of the inventions” infringed the
patents forming a system and apparatus that incorporates elements meeting all
of the limitations of one or more claims of the '318 and '619 patents. FlatWorld
requested court to order an injunction barring the accused Apple products and to
award damages.
Case Dismissed:
FlatWorld
and Apple have settled the claims asserted in the case. The court considering
the parties’ request to dismiss the case, opinionated that dismissal should be
granted. Accordingly, the court ordered all claims and counterclaims dismissed
with prejudice. It was further ordered that all attorneys’ fees, costs of court
and expenses incurred by each party.
Other Cases by FlatWorld:
FlatWorld filed 3 cases since
2012 against Apple, LG and Samsung asserting the same patents. LG and Samsung
cases are outstanding in Delaware District Court.
See 3:12-cv-01956
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[i] Expected
expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that
automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility
patents.
[ii] MaxVal offers Patent
Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when
assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest
are recorded.
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