Apple Will Pay Elan Microelectronics $5 Million To Settle Patent Infringement Case

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Elan Microelectronics Corp, a Taiwanese touch design company, said on Thursday that Apple Inc will pay $5 million as part of a settlement in a patent infringement case.

The statement said the two companies would also exchange authorizations to use each other's patents.

In 2009, Elan sued Apple in the United States over two patent infringements and the California-based giant counter-sued later the same year.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favour of Apple in June last year, saying Apple had not violated U.S. trade law.

Apple is involved in a number of patent disputes following the massive popularity of the company's flagship products the iPhone, iPad and MacBook among consumers. Apple is also embroiled in acrimonious lawsuits over Google Inc's Android players as the two camps battle for market share.

Lawsuits, especially patent disputes, are common in the technology sector as makers seek to protect their newest technologies from being commoditized and exploited by rivals. But most are settled out of court as big companies prefer to avoid long fights and patented technology can be out of date by the time a case is over.

(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Chris Lewis)

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Comments

[USA90815]

02:19 PM on 01/07/2012

How horrible for a company to violate and even steal patents from other countries. We are appalled.

Sincerely,

China

[crazybobmt]

07:47 AM on 01/06/2012

gee i have a lil phone an alcatel made by lucent technologies plain camera, radio music player can anyone tell me how to turn up the earpiece volume??and the bluetooth , i'd sure like to access that and lastly turn off the gps tracker or aat least make it toggle on / off...model fm3

[winfl55]

10:18 PM on 01/05/2012

"The statement said the two companies would also exchange authorizations to use each other's patents." Is probably why the monetary part is small.

[crazybobmt]

07:22 AM on 01/06/2012

only some patents and technology this is how the big feed on the small , and the small nibble at the teet of the big

[Al Schrader]

07:35 PM on 01/05/2012

I don't have any patents. I have trade secrets. What's a trade secret ? For example, the Coke formula is a trade secret. The trade secrets I have are worth more than Apple and Microsoft combined....Alfie-

[crazybobmt]

07:24 AM on 01/06/2012

can i borroww 5 bucks,,,,uh 5 million ??

[Al Schrader]

11:13 AM on 01/06/2012

Crazybob-

What do you have as collateral ?

[crazybobmt]

03:32 PM on 01/07/2012

good question a beat up 24 year old nissan pickup an armalite ar10a4 with russian scope my subaru station wagon about 10 pounds of gold opps silver coins and a queensland blue two cats a slab o ribs and goose in the freezer stilh ms310 chainsaw ruger superblackhawk in stainless steel 44 mag two macintosh mc60 tube amps 2 meter ham tranceiver 10 meter ham tranceiver trek american made 27 inch race bike frazier dixielanders circa1966 antique oak furniture genuine horsehair queensize mattress two remmington 1100 shotguns in 12guage a 1966 lever gun in 30 30 my gaming computer two like new laptops $5 yet???

[Cashman the Oracle]

05:36 PM on 01/05/2012

5 million. Wow. There goes the petty cash.

[helioszephyr]

07:25 PM on 01/05/2012

Sofa change for App.

[bynddrvn5]

05:22 PM on 01/05/2012

Apple seems to find it easier to violate patents than to work with smaller companies.

According to "The Economist": "Between 1996 and 2003, Dr Gelernter and Dr Freeman had generated a number of patents relating to the idea of lifestreams. These patents, the firm argued, were being infringed by several Apple products, including its Spotlight search feature, its Cover Flow interface for displaying album covers in iTunes and its Time Machine backup software. A countersuit from Apple accused Dr Gelernter of hiding prior art relating to his patents and misrepresenting his inventorship." Full article: http://www.economist.com/node/21540383

A court found Apple guilty and awarded their company $625.5m in damages, Apple is appealing this ruling.

[rikilii]

06:03 PM on 01/05/2012

Selective reading?

"But in April 2011 a federal judge overturned the verdict, even while upholding the Mirror Worlds patents, ruling that Apple had not infringed them and should pay nothing."

[bynddrvn5]

09:28 PM on 01/05/2012

Sorry, the article didn't explain the case up to date and my comment was confusing. The jury found Apple guilty and the judge overturned the verdict in April 2011. Dr Gelernter is appealing the decision, more here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/us/david-gelernter-discusses-patent-claim-against-apple.html

[zanytothemaxx]

04:57 PM on 01/05/2012

Not only does Apple not manufacture any of its products in the U.S., but now we know they steal other companies technology. If the U.S. is ever to solve the jobs problen, something must be done to influence these Un-American companies that use the American economic system to become rich and manufacture in other countries to bring jobs back to the U.S..

[rikilii]

05:15 PM on 01/05/2012

You must not have read the article.  The ITC ruled that they did NOT steal anyone's technology.  And if you can find a single company that manufactures complex electronic goods in the U.S., more power to you, but it probably doesn't exist.  Don't blame Apple for doing what it needs to do to survive.  If it did manufacture its products in the U.S., nobody would pay for them.  Americans can't have it both ways.  We can either have lots of high-paying manufacturing jobs and expensive consumer products (that nobody will buy), or cheap consumer products that are imported from Asia.

[rnb]

05:59 AM on 01/06/2012

Whatever the ITC ruled, Apple still felt it was in their best interest to settle. The ITC is concerned with trade law, not patent law, which is the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

[KCollins7492]

08:10 AM on 01/06/2012

no.....the ITC ruled they didn't violate US Trade Law....not the same by a long shot boss. Know what you're talking about before you leak stupid all over the place.

[Highball]

05:51 PM on 01/05/2012

No computers (or gadgets) or televisions or anything like that are produced in the US. Why don't you look at what you just posted this post on? Look at it, and tell me where it was produced.

[2crudedudes]

04:56 PM on 01/05/2012

So Apple is suing other manufacturers for ripping off designs that they themselves ripped off. Innovation indeed.

[rikilii]

05:16 PM on 01/05/2012

They paid $5 million dollars to get rid of a nuisance suit.  If they really "ripped off" the design, they'd be paying a lot more than a drop in the ocean.

[2crudedudes]

08:56 AM on 01/07/2012

Did you notice the part of the article that part of the settlement includes permission for Apple to legally use this infringed technology? That means it was using the technology without permission, meaning Apple ripped it off and used it without getting proper permission.

[mojo filter]

04:45 PM on 01/05/2012

Ha ha apple. Turnabout is fair play, or something.

[Pierre99]

04:36 PM on 01/05/2012

They probably can pay this from the petty cash fund.

[Highball]

05:55 PM on 01/05/2012

Considering that Apple's net profit for Q4 '11 was $6.62bn, that makes $5m approx. 2 hours of net profits.

And that's not even taking into account how much higher their Q1 profits will be, or the fact that they have ~$100bn in the bank.

So, yeah: $5m is more or less a rounding error.

[helioszephyr]

08:03 PM on 01/05/2012

Apple's accounting sector probably has a greater allowable "margin of error"

[hlnpayne]

02:52 PM on 01/05/2012

i dont really care about who did what..i just want to know what happened to the touchpad because i just bought one in nov.

[rltballer]

02:05 PM on 01/05/2012

Had a Iphone, Terrible phone. Horrible reception. Absolutely terrible. Dropped calls every 5 mins no matter where i was. I now have HTC incredible 2 and i absolutely love it. I dont see what all the hype about apple products are except maybe the desktops. They are awesome for music, but as far as an iphone, its middle of the pack to me.

[newplasticmachine]

02:23 PM on 01/05/2012

I had the exact opposite experience. Love my iPhone, only dropped one call in the past year.

[theveggiedude]

02:26 PM on 01/05/2012

So is your HTC also on AT&T as was your iPhone?

[ResearchtheFacts]

02:43 PM on 01/05/2012

Point made! lol I needed a good laugh today.

[rltballer]

02:44 PM on 01/05/2012

Neither. Both are/were verizon. When the IPhone was doing its mess i told verizon they can take the phone back because it is crap. I had it like 2 months. I have not dropped one call on my htc in the 4-5 months since then.

[AndyWright68]

02:04 PM on 01/05/2012

IP is nonsense.

[rikilii]

03:35 PM on 01/05/2012

It's very odd that you would make such a statement by typing on a computer, through an internet, and on a news website, none of which would likely exist if it weren't for IP rights.

[AndyWright68]

04:45 PM on 01/05/2012

Likely? How likely?

More than likely without these laws that threaten peaceful people with violence we would be far more advanced. Government only slows progress.

[ResearchtheFacts]

02:02 PM on 01/05/2012

People are moving away from Apple because the ridiculous claims. Archos tablets was around before ipad. So were touch screens a fast food restaurants. The tablets are pattern after the digital photo frames. The ipad is a direct replica of the 2006 Samsung digital photo frame. Try google and research your own info. In any event this fruity company is getting annoying.

[dynamite219]

02:28 PM on 01/05/2012

I understand you may hate apple's marketing tactics and the groups they focus on, but everything you stated in your commentary is false. "people moving away from apple because of their ridiculous claims". Really. Where'd you google that? Ipad a direct replica of the 2006 photo frame? Unless their photo frame had apps, connected to a global network, and hit 3g networks, your wrong. I'm a PC/android man myself, but what apple does is smart business; they are at the top of the mountain for everyone to try to knock them off, and its not for dishing photo frames.

[ResearchtheFacts]

02:41 PM on 01/05/2012

You forgot in your opinion. Archos http://www.google.com/search?q=digital+photo+frame&hl=en&prmd=imvnsr&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=LfwFT4aEDMXv0gGi6PHDDA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CHIQ_AUoAQ&biw=1138&bih=530#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&source=hp&q=archos&pbx=1&oq=archos&aq=f&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=108476l109676l0l112126l6l6l0l0l0l0l280l1300l0.2.4l6l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=5439c991a116c4d3&biw=1138&bih=530 was connected to a network and the design of apple is Samsung's 2006 photo frame http://www.google.com/search?q=digital+photo+frame&hl=en&prmd=imvnsr&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=LfwFT4aEDMXv0gGi6PHDDA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CHIQ_AUoAQ&biw=1138&bih=530#q=digital+photo+frame&hl=en&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsr&tbas=0&source=lnt&sa=X&ei=dvwFT42lAuPL0QGC0NH-CQ&ved=0CDMQpwUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=5439c991a116c4d3&biw=1138&bih=530 . They just stole from two places. Not smart and is coming back to bite them now. Apple still has a small market share check the ComScores for mobile. The PC market is a small percentage compared to worldwide. You can look at Microsoft's OS numbers for reference there. Where Apple does well is fleecing the customers they do have. lol

[moflard]

03:02 PM on 01/05/2012

I'd say they're top of the mountain in terms of design, not technology. And to be honest I don't even like their designs that much, I'm more of a Babbage Difference Engine kind of guy myself (yes I know, not exactly portable but gods it's gorgeous).

[Durt Bagg]

04:51 PM on 01/05/2012

So firkin what?

There were plenty of MP3 players before the iPod too... Apple just does it better... also they enjoy a much higher resale value.

[2crudedudes]

05:01 PM on 01/05/2012

The ipod that became popular had an absurd interface (yay scrolling through thousands of songs with a rotating thumb). That's not better. It was just "prettier" with trendier marketing.

[ogservice]

01:37 PM on 01/05/2012

FIVE MILLION DOLLARS?
What will Apple do without 45 seconds of net profits?

[Highball]

02:01 PM on 01/05/2012

Exactly. In the time it took me to type this message, they made that back.

It's just easier to settle these things, especially when we're talking about (relatively) small amounts of money.

[ResearchtheFacts]

02:46 PM on 01/05/2012

Off you, and those like you. What so bizarre about Apple lovers postings is they act like they are profit sharing --enough to get you off this site and into a real "Steve Jobs" lifestyle. The money you are talking about IS BEING MADE OFF YOU not for you. lol

[ogservice]

05:42 PM on 01/05/2012

Last I heard (of course during the goverment shutdown fiasco) Apple had $80 BILLION in the bank. I think paying $5 Million and ending this immediately is a no brainer.