Philip Houska Apple is facing yet another patent lawsuit, but this time it's a rather rare case. A man from Florida is trying to bring Cook's company to court for copying his hand-drawn designs for touch devices from 1992. He is demanding compensation of at least $10 billion (245 billion crowns).
It all started in 1992, when Thomas S. Ross designed and hand-drawn three technical drawings of the device and called it "Electronic Reading Device", loosely translated as "electronic reading device". The entire body was composed of flat rectangular panels with rounded corners. According to Ross – 15 years before the first iPhone – there was no such thing at the time.
The concept of "ERD" contained such functions with which people today are most identified. There was also the possibility of reading and writing, as well as the possibility of viewing images or watching videos. Each movement would be stored in internal (or external) memory. The device could also make phone calls. Ross also wanted to solve the power supply effectively – in addition to traditional batteries, he also wanted to use the power of the solar panels that the device would have.
In October 1992, a Florida man applied for a patent for his design, but three years later (April 1995), the US Patent Office dismissed the case because the required fees had not been paid.
In 2014, Thomas S. Ross revived his designs again when he applied to the US Copyright Office for a copyright. In a lawsuit, Ross now claims that Apple misused his designs in its iPhones, iPads and iPod touches, and is therefore seeking at least $1,5 billion in damages and a XNUMX percent share of worldwide sales. According to him, Apple caused him "enormous and irreparable damage that cannot be fully compensated or measured in monetary terms." Time will tell how it holds up in court.
However, the question remains why this individual focused only on Apple+ and not on other manufacturers who also come up with similar designs for their devices.
I would say that he could rather sue amazon because of the kindle 3 :)
It's obvious that Apple didn't invent a new concept but only perfected (though undoubtedly noticeably) the PDA concept, but this person is really retarded. they should put him in a straightjacket and brainwash him for having the audacity to burden the court so rudely and pointlessly
What I don't understand is that he didn't say earlier that he had been living in a cave for the last 10 years?
I think that Apple will run away with it like the proverbial hot ashes... :-)