Bizarre lawsuits connect Apple with Sarah Jessica Parker, Lil' Wayne

[AppleInsider]

Apple is the defendant in two recent, offbeat lawsuits, including one filed by an artist who alleges he invented and named the iPod and iPhone in the 1980s, only to have Apple and actress Sarah Jessica Parker steal his trade secrets.

Defendants Apple, Steve Jobs and Sarah Jessica Parker

In 1989, the suit alleges, plaintiff Franz A. Wakefield won first place in the 17th Congressional District Arts Competition and was honored by Congressman William Lehman and movie stars Parker and Robert Downey Jr. A self-described "trade secret and copyright owner," Wakefield, of Miami, Fla., is president and chief product design engineer with COOLTvNETWORK.com.

In meeting these people, Wakefield alleges he was asked by the congressman to disclose his "trade secrets" to the FBI, including the concept of the iPod, iTunes, and the iPhone, the last of which he allegedly specifically named nearly 20 years prior to its debut.

The suit claims that Wakefield also developed a friendship with Parker and "made a trade secret deal" with her to commercialize the iPod classic, nano, mini, shuffle, video, touch and photo, as well as iTunes and the iPhone. The supposed agreement would have granted Parker 2 percent of gross revenues from the products. Wakefield said he asked the FBI to watch over him to ensure the security of his inventions and deal with Parker.

"Before allowing his trade secrets and copyright works to be used by the Defendants, 'WAKEFIELD' in confidence documented his trade secrets with Congressman William Lehman and the Federal Bureau of Investigations," the suit reads. "'WAKEFIELD' also requested that The FBI seize his visual art and sketch book which contained the documented secrets and requested that the FBI surveil him as he completed the trade secret deals to commercialize the secrets into products with 'SJP' and other representatives. 'WAKEFIELD' communicated the trade secret deal with the Defendant 'SJP,' his trade secrets, which includes the IDENTICAL name brands for iPod, iTunes (iTunes Store) and the iPhone, along with drawings and paintings of the IDENTICAL product designs and various models in various views."

Per his "deal" with Parker, Wakefield claims the actress agreed to meet with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to present his concepts, including the sale of songs via iTunes at $0.99.

Wakefield's suit claims he attempted to contact Parker in 2006, only to be told by her attorney that she has no recollection of any conversations regarding the iPod.

He also wrote a letter to Jobs in October, which is included with the suit filed Monday in a U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

"This letter is to serve as a DEMAND for payment," he wrote Jobs. "Otherwise I will seek legal recourse for the immediate cease and desist from the manufacture, marketing, and sale of all the iPOD, iTunes, and Iphone lines; along with pursuing damages from the products sold to date, unjust enrichment caused by the theft, enforcement of the agreed 2% gross revenues on all sales, and any other applicable damages or compensation."

The suit also includes a complaint Wakefield filed with the FBI in 2007. That document mentioned other complaints against Nintendo and Cordis Corp. filed with the bureau dating back as far as 1993.

Apple named in suit against rapper Lil' Wayne

A Florida man has included Apple along with rappers Lil' Wayne and Birdman in a lawsuit that alleges his voice was used on records without his permission.

Apple is named alongside Wayne, real name Dwayne Carter, and Birdman, also known as Brian Williams. Other defendants include Universal Records, Cash Money Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Distribution Services, Real Networks, Yahoo, and Does 1-10.

Florida man Thomas Marasciullo was mentioned in the liner notes of Wayne's "Like Father, Like Son" album, but the plaintiff believes he is owed money by the defendants for the inclusion of his "Italian-styled" spoken words on two of the artists' records, according to The New York Daily News. The album is available for sale on the iTunes Music store.

The complaint was filed on Oct. 30 in a Manhattan Federal Court.

As a major corporation, Apple is routinely hit with lawsuits on a variety of subjects -- some very strange. This summer, a suit attempted to link the Cupertino, Calif., company to the Italian mafia. The man alleged that the two conspired to secretly track him, transmit threatening messages to his iPod, and insert the word "herpes" into the song "Still Tippin'" by Mike Jones.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Rob55]

This is hilarious. Sounds like Mr. Wakefield had too much Cocoa-puffs for breakfast.

[Eriamjh]

I love those crazy people!

[swtchdtomak]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

I love those crazy people!

Yes, but those who chose to be their legal representatives on the other hand.

[AjitMD]

We got Nokia and other termites coming out of the wood work!

[LordJohnWhorfin]

Reminds me of Croix on Howard Stern. She sounded like a reasonable woman and she had a lawsuit against Ronald Reagan. Asked by Howard to elaborate, she would go on ranting that Reagan and Fidel Castro had conspired to steal her architecture for a secret base at the North Pole.
I can't believe the courts are wasting taxpayer money on what is clearly the rantings of a delusional man. Unless he came from the future and this was his plan to establish wealth, which would still make him a complete nut since he could have done much better just buying Apple stock in 1995 and collecting now at what, 30 times the initial investment?
Either way, it doesn't compute.

[Zab The Fab]

stupid, stupid, stupid. He must be trying to get attention to his website or something ?

[anonymouse]

This Wakefield guy will be lucky if the judge doesn't have him committed.

[kirkjeffery]

You can't argue with crazy.

[teckstud]

I can't believe AI has even posted this.

[drdb]

Originally Posted by swtchdtomak

Yes, but those who chose to be their legal representatives on the other hand.

Denny Crane!

[DKWalsh4]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I can't believe AI has even posted this.

They're just trying their hands at humor.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

I love those crazy people!

Me too. This article made my Friday.

Why are delusional always so angry and bitter? Not just this lawsuit, but the ones that post on this forum, too. If you were going to be delusional why not choose a happy delusion for yourself. On that note, why do people with Tourette’s always blurt out profanities? Why not random compliments?

Originally Posted by swtchdtomak

Yes, but those who chose to be their legal representatives on the other hand.

Good point!

[ezduzit]

let's end it. loser pays all costs.

"the the the that's all folks!!"

[Woode]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Me too. This article made my Friday.

Why are delusional always so angry and bitter? Not just this lawsuit, but the ones that post on this forum, too. If you were going to be delusional why not choose a happy delusion for yourself. On that note, why do people with Tourette’s always blurt out profanities? Why not random compliments?




Good point!

I think the happy-delusion-people are out somewhere being happy and delusional, not posting here!

[paxman]

Originally Posted by Woode

I think the happy-delusion-people are out somewhere being happy and delusional, not posting here!

I think most people are happily delusional. If not they are probably very very sad and deeply lacking any sense of humour. Personally I think this whole thing is a hoax. The article starts off by calling him an Artist and I am sure this must be some kind of Guerilla Art Statement. And of course, the attention, oh the attention....

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by DKWalsh4

They're just trying their hands at humor.

Quick - get the Purell!

[quinney]

Originally Posted by solipsism

If you were going to be delusional why not choose a happy delusion for yourself.

Do you think people choose to be mentally ill? Maybe the bitterness some feel has to do with
knowing that they are unable to function normally. Maybe it has to do with the pain they feel from people having a laugh at their expense.

[hugodinho]

Why not Batman

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by quinney

Do you think people choose to be mentally ill? Maybe the bitterness some feel has to do with knowing that they are unable to function normally. Maybe it has to do with the pain they feel from people having a laugh at their expense.

Excellent point! I withdraw my previous query, sans the Tourette’s Syndrome joke.

[joebloggs]

Originally Posted by swtchdtomak

Yes, but those who chose to be their legal representatives on the other hand.

I bet these are filed in pro per. No lawyer files this sort of stuff. These people are clearly delusional and need to either take their medication, or get more help.

[Rokrad]

"Mental that one...."

[justbobf]

Sounds looney, sure. But, I went to his web site. The main image links to a page with links to supposed patents. Claims like a computer interface for a data base that lets you find music through such things as categories or artists names. Has anyone here looked at those?

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by quinney

Do you think people choose to be mentally ill? Maybe the bitterness some feel has to do with
knowing that they are unable to function normally. Maybe it has to do with the pain they feel from people having a laugh at their expense.

Don't waste your time with that one- he still believes and defends his foolishness that this decade has over a year and a month left.

[TheFatWookie]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Me too. This article made my Friday.

Why are delusional always so angry and bitter? Not just this lawsuit, but the ones that post on this forum, too. If you were going to be delusional why not choose a happy delusion for yourself. On that note, why do people with Tourette’s always blurt out profanities? Why not random compliments?




Good point!

Stop picking on Teckstud! LoL!

[malax]

Call him crazy but the guy is a friggin' genius. Not only did he invent products that took the world by storm decades later, but he worked out the naming and pricing in advance as well. Steve Jobs is hailed as CEO of the Decade when, in fact, all he did was execute this dude's master plan. Not only that but he was smart enough to have the friggin' FBI keep an eye on things so he could prove his case when, as he must have predicted, someone (Apple) stole credit for everything. When he brings those FBI records to court, AAPL is going to crater. (Wouldn't it be mind-blowing if this turned out to be true :-)

[jmnikricket]

Where are the aliens? Or certainly big foot had something to do with at least

[Phredd]

Soon he'll be suing the FBI when they "claim" they have no recollection of his deal with them.

[Chris_CA]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Why are delusional always so angry and bitter?

Or as Marcy Rhoades (from Married WIth Children) says after Al Bundy gets visited by Aliens, "Isn't it funny how UFOs always visit idiots?"

[michaelt]

she has no recollection of any conversations regarding the iPod

OMG! They've erased the conversations from her brain! This is bigger than I thought!

[wizard69]

Collect his paycheck that is. The movie and music industry is filled with similar stories of people having to bring suite to get their paycheck. So it is unfortunate that somebody in that situation getslumped in to an article that is so focused on another issue altogether.
In fact I wouldn't be surprised to find AI in a law suit over smearing by association. One needs to be real careful about how these to entirely separate issues are being presented.


Dave

[justflybob]

Originally Posted by wizard69

Collect his paycheck that is. The movie and music industry is filled with similar stories of people having to bring suite to get their paycheck. So it is unfortunate that somebody in that situation getslumped in to an article that is so focused on another issue altogether.
In fact I wouldn't be surprised to find AI in a law suit over smearing by association. One needs to be real careful about how these to entirely separate issues are being presented.


Dave

Good grief. Should AI look in their closet and under the bed before turning out the lights and getting under the covers as well?

[Garion]

Mr. Wakefields "trade secrets" for the iPod, iPhone, iTunes and other Apple products is all the more impressive when you concider that in 1989 Steve Jobs had been out of Apple for four years. At the time Mr. Jobs was busy with NEXT and Pixar and had nothing to do with Apple what so ever.

Exactly why Mr. Wakefield would have Sarah Jessica Parker see Steve Jobs about ideas for future Apple products in 1989 is somewhat confusing, seeing as Steve Jobs at the time was not heading any company with the slightest interest in consumer electronics. Not to mention that the whole "iName" scheme was a derivative from the original iMac, which wasn't to occur until 1997, some eight years later.

But I guess Mr. Wakefields uncanny prophetic powers also enabled him to predict that Steve Jobs would return to Apple as interim CEO seven years down the road? Remarkable in deed.

[johndoe98]

Originally Posted by justbobf

Sounds looney, sure. But, I went to his web site. The main image links to a page with links to supposed patents. Claims like a computer interface for a data base that lets you find music through such things as categories or artists names. Has anyone here looked at those?

Why don't you provide us with a link to his page.

Originally Posted by joebloggs

I bet these are filed in pro per. No lawyer files this sort of stuff. These people are clearly delusional and need to either take their medication, or get more help.

Indeed I bet it is, this guy has a history of filing pro per lawsuits against big companies.

Originally Posted by malax

Call him crazy but the guy is a friggin' genius.

I hope you are kidding otherwise provide a source.

Anyway I wonder when society should have the right to tell people to stop wasting their money by continually filing these kinds of suits. I mean he has filed against Cordis, Disney, Nintendo and now Apple. At some point you'd think the court system would have had enough no?

[Bregalad]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Don't waste your time with that one- he still believes and defends his foolishness that this decade has over a year and a month left.

It does, for the same reason the 21st century began on January 1, 2001.

Given that the Yankees spend 33% more than any other team in baseball on salaries and almost as much as Pittsburgh, Florida, San Diego, Oakland and Baltimore put together, one could argue they're actually rather unsuccessful.

[myapplelove]

MS is facing a similar case from someone claiming they invented the zune and the zune hd, some luns going by the names of of toshiba and samsung.

Oh yeah and the informant was Kevin Costner.

[knightlie]

Originally Posted by hugodinho

Why not Batman

Batman is already working with me under an exclusive agreement to develop a TARDIS. I intend to travel back to the 60's and sue the creators of Doctor Who.

[Roos24]

This is what you get when you have more lawyers in a State like Michigan than in all of Japan.

And as long as they are kept being fed by this kind of BS, they will be like ants.

Somewhat off topic, this is also the reason why Obama's health plan will fail so long as there are lawyers who get it done that people can sue (and win) doctors and hospitals for millions and millions of dollars. The amount that people can be sued for needs to be capped first.

I don't think I'll live long enough to see that happen...

[lilgto64]

Just wait until I get my law suit filed - that guy will be in serious trouble - because I had all those ideas in 1979 - and had the CIA follow me around to document things (all except the parts where I was wearing my aluminium foil hat - and at first I had Bob Crane working as my informant but we all know the FBI assassinated him to dis-credit my case - so I had to switch to Ashton Kucher - only trouble is that every time I try to file my suit the lawyer just thinks he got punk'd - I have got to find me a better informant - maybe Matt Damon is available...

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by Bregalad

It does, for the same reason the 21st century began on January 1, 2001.

Here we go again- mixing Apples with Oranges. I'm talking about the term "of the decade" and you start talking "century" just like "he who's name shall dare not be mentioned".