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Apple Sued Over Touchscreen Patent Infringement

by Tim Stevens on April 9, 2009 at 03:04 PM


Remember all the fun everyone had watching Palm and Apple's legal wordplay regarding multitouch patents? If you missed it, Apple delivered a very thinly veiled threat to Palm, flouting how it had touch-sensitive intellectual rights up the wazoo to protect itself from the competition. Apple, though, may be due for a heaping helping of humble pie, as it's now on the receiving end of a lawsuit from Elan Microelectronics claiming infringement on two patents -- both involving multitouch. Elan, best known for its keypads found in Eee PCs everywhere (along with some other diversions), won a court injunction against Synaptics for infringement on one of those patents, and seems like it may actually have a shot of shaking down the house of Jobs. It's also seeking an injunction against Apple to prevent it from selling the MacBook, iPhone, and iPod Touch until everything gets legally sorted. That seems like a long-shot, but anything could happen. Oh, and Palm corporate officers, try not to look too giddy today, yeah?

Read -- Apple sued over touch-screen rights
Read -- Injunction quote [Warning: requires subscription]

Tags: apple, elan, elan microelectronics, ElanMicroelectronics, elantech, lawsuits, multi-touch, multitouch, patent, synaptics, touchscreens

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