12.06.07 - 01:08pm
360 million. That’s what Klausner Technologies is suing Apple for, insisting that one of the iPhones most inventive attributes, the visual viocemail, is theirs.
Klausner says that patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818 which they hold, give them the rights to visual voicemail and require Apple to pay for using the technology.
The suite was filed by Dovel & Luner, a California law firm in a federal court in Texas. Klausner is has also named additional companies in the lawsuit suing AT&T, GotVoice, SimulScribe, Comcast, Cablevisions Systems and eBay, siting that all of them sell products featuring voicemail visually on a phone screen.
Klausner has won similar lawsuits against Time Warner, AOL and Vonage in the past two years, making this particular lawsuit one of the most likely to win with a high price of payment for Apple.
Category: apple, iPhone | Tags: apple, iPhone, klausner-technologies, lawsuit | Be the First to Comment »
11.26.07 - 01:59pm
Apple can now legally streamline video and music to your iPod as fast as it wishes, as it is free from the impending Burst’s lawsuit. The suit, which was originally filed by Burst in 2004, and which was set to go to trial in 2008, has been settled by a payout from Apple for $10,000,000.
The suit stated that iTunes and Quicktime software infringed on Bursts patents. Burst specialized in audio/video-over-IP software. The patents they supposedly infringed on allowed for shows to be downloaded in “Faster-Than-Real-Time” technology. Therefore it doesn’t take 2 hrs to download a 2hr movie.
Apple attempted to buy licenses for use of the Bursts patents years ago but not liking the price decided to deal with the lawsuit instead, and for a measly $10 mil. they got quite a deal. Microsoft was hit by a similar lawsuit from Burst during the same time as the Apple lawsuit. Microsoft ended up paying a great deal more spending $60 million to settle with the company.
Category: apple | Tags: apple, burst, lawsuit | Be the First to Comment »
10.09.07 - 03:28pm
The first iPhone update muted almost all previous hacked iPhone third party applications and turned unlocked iPhones into iBricks, with alarming alacrity. The people however are fighting back, or at least Timothy Smith is, and he has filed a lawsuit that if won would have big repercussions for not only Apple, AT&T and the iPhone, but also for the way the cell phone world works in general.
Currently carriers are allowed to lock phones so they can only be used on one carriers network, Smith’s lawsuit claims this practice violates California’s ani-trust laws. If his suit wins it could mean that all carriers would no longer be able to lock any phone, anywhere, anytime.
The lawsuit states: “Apple issued a software update that “bricked” or otherwise caused iPhone malfunctions for consumers who unlocked their phones and installed the update.”
“Under an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998, consumers can lawfully modify their phones for use on a cellphone network of their choice. Apple ignored the exemption in disregard of consumers’ rights.”
Category: apple, iPhone | Tags: ibrick, iPhone, lawsuit, timothy-smith | Be the First to Comment »
10.01.07 - 11:37am
We all knew it was coming, did we not? There had to be at least one lawsuit filed against Apple over the iPhone price cut and thus we have a winner. Dongmei Li has filed the first lawsuit over the iPhone price cut asking for $1 Million in compensatory damages with punitive damages to be determined.
Li said she stood in line “for hours” on July 2nd three days after the iPhone went on sale. She called Apples price cut “discrimination” as it varied for early and later buyers. “Apple’s discrimination in price between early and later purchasers substantially caused the early purchasers to be injured because early purchasers cannot resell their iPhones for the same profit as later purchasers,” Li’s lawsuit stated.
She said the price cut then cheated her because it offered only the 100 store credit while letting others who had purchased within two weeks of the price cut have a 200 store credit reflecting Apple’s two week return policy.
Category: apple, iPhone | Tags: Dongmei-Li, iphone-price-cut, lawsuit | Be the First to Comment »
08.20.07 - 03:15pm
And yet another iPhone lawsuit this time again over the battery.
The difference this one is filed on behalf of iPhone owners everywhere and is asking for 5 million in damages where the last one was only asking for 75,000.
The first was filed by Jose Trujillo from Illinois. This one filed by Sydney Leung from California is on behalf of iPhone customers everywhere stating that the iPhone customer “was not informed at the time of purchase of the costs and procedures for replacing the battery.”
“Neither the box the iPhone was sold in nor the written information within the box explained the cost and procedures required to change the iPhone battery,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also claims that the battery will only last for 300 charges not the 400 charges Apple states on their website; “A properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles.”
Category: iPhone | Tags: battery, iPhone, lawsuit | Be the First to Comment »
08.02.07 - 05:10pm
The iPhone battery has been cause for concern since the iPhone was first announced back in January. Back then it was the fear that the battery would have a short playing life and would have to be recharged constantly. Apple was able to overcome that in spite of the music and video taking up more battery life than regular talking.
Now the problem has become the high price of the non-replaceable battery. A price that a new lawsuit is saying should have been more adequately exposed before the iPhone went on sale.
The iPhone battery will last approximately a year if used often or around 400 charges When it needs replacing it costs $79 plus a $6 shipping and handling fee and if you want use of a phone for the three days it will take to replace it you must rent one for another $29.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Jose Trujillo of Chicago is asking for money damages accusing Apple of consumer fraud.
Category: apple, iPhone | Tags: apple, battery, consumer_fraud, customer_service_policies, iPhone, lawsuit | Be the First to Comment »
03.23.07 - 02:15pm
As digital media takes over, old long standing contracts that have been around for years are getting blighted. Starz and Disney have had one of these contracts signed first in 1993 and again in 1999. The contract gives Starz an 18-month exclusive window to sell Disney’s DVDs or films and to offer them online for one-time use or for short periods. Starz says that Disney’s selling of the videos in digital downloadable format through iTunes and Walmart violates that right and has now filed a lawsuit against their partner.
“I applaud them for being aggressive in new technology, but not when it violates our contract,” Starz Chief Executive Robert Clasen said.
Starz has cited 50 movies in which they claim exclusive rights paid for with over 1 billion dollars have been violated, among them National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Shop Girl and the English Patient.
Category: itunes | Tags: itunes, lawsuit, starz_entertainment, walmart | Be the First to Comment »
