Philip Houska Apple is being taken to court again, again over patent disputes. According to Immersion, it infringed on three of its patents that claim to use special touch technology. Immersion's CEO said in an official statement that the company must aggressively protect its intellectual property.
The company Immersion Corporation introduced to the world touch tactile (haptic) technology, which is characterized primarily by vibration response. Of course, it claims the exclusive right to use the technology, and according to the latest information, three patents were infringed by Apple and also by the American telecommunications company AT&T.
The lawsuit, filed by Immersion, involves patents focusing on a haptic feedback system with stored effects (No. 8) and a method and apparatus for providing tactile feedback (No. 619) allegedly found in the iPhone 051s/ 8s Plus, 773/365 Plus and in all versions of the Watch. The latest iPhones also infringe on patent number 6, which includes an interactive model system with shared response in mobile devices.
Apple wearable devices have had this technology for some time, for example in the form of notification of a call or a received message, but before the introduction of the Apple Watch in 2014, engineers took the whole principle into their own hands and presented to the world a more advanced version of the technology under the name "Taptic Engine". They followed it up with development functions Force Touch a Touch 3D, which are also supposed to benefit from the original patent from Immersion. According to available information, the lawsuit is aimed at this matter.
“While we are pleased that the industry understands the value of our haptic technology and is implementing it into their products, it is extremely important to us to protect our intellectual property from infringement by other companies. We want to continue to maintain our ecosystem that we have built and in which we have deployed this technology that we are investing in for continuous improvement," said Immersion CEO Victor Viegas, who directed this statement at Apple, among others.
However, a lawsuit has also been filed against AT&T, but it is not yet entirely clear how the telecommunications company infringed the patents. Although it sells iPhones in the United States, so do many other companies that Immersion did not include in its lawsuit.
