Patent monetization firm Papst Licensing sets sights on Apple over data transfer tech
Apple is once again in the legal crosshairs of a non-practicing entity, this time as part of a lawsuit leveled by patent monetization firm Papst, which claims iPhone, iPad and iPod infringe on four owned properties relating to data transfer technology.
Lodged with the patent holder-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Monday, Papst's complaint involves four patents, specifically U.S. Patent Nos. 6,473,399, 8,504,746, 8,966,144 and 9,189,437, each dealing with digital media transfer protocols.
In particular, Papst claims it notified Apple of devices in infringement of the '399 patent as early as 2007, saying a dialogue concerning the matter continued until mid-2010. The IP, reassigned from electronics outfit Labortechnik Tasler, covers efficient data communications applicable to Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) and Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) technology. The patent's claims detail a communications system capable of compensating for transmission delays and varying transmission rates by checking whether data units sent from one node were received by a second node.
Papst further claims Apple was monitoring Papst's patent prosecution and therefore had knowledge of the '746, '144 and '437 patents. Still, the company moved forward with production, marketing and sales of devices using Papst-owned technology, the complaint states.
Papst Licensing is a German patent holdings firm borrowing its name from prolific engineer and inventor Hermann Papst, who dabbled in various fields but is perhaps most well known for founding electric motor manufacturer Papst-Motoren. Papst's son Georg Papst purchased Papst-Motoren's patent portfolio in 1992 to create Papst Licensing, which is now run by a third generation of Papsts.
As a patent monetization entity, Papst is assigned intellectual property and enforces it, in court if necessary, as patent holder. According to its website, Papst has successfully negotiated some 150 licensing agreements with major electronics brands including Canon, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Samsung, Seagate, Sony and Toshiba. Most recently, Papst has gone after digital camera brands like Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic using the same IP leveraged against Apple. Many of those suits have been consolidated into a single case in Washington, D.C.
In its case against Apple, Papst seeks a jury trial for past and future damages.
Lodged with the patent holder-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Monday, Papst's complaint involves four patents, specifically U.S. Patent Nos. 6,473,399, 8,504,746, 8,966,144 and 9,189,437, each dealing with digital media transfer protocols.
In particular, Papst claims it notified Apple of devices in infringement of the '399 patent as early as 2007, saying a dialogue concerning the matter continued until mid-2010. The IP, reassigned from electronics outfit Labortechnik Tasler, covers efficient data communications applicable to Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) and Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) technology. The patent's claims detail a communications system capable of compensating for transmission delays and varying transmission rates by checking whether data units sent from one node were received by a second node.
Papst further claims Apple was monitoring Papst's patent prosecution and therefore had knowledge of the '746, '144 and '437 patents. Still, the company moved forward with production, marketing and sales of devices using Papst-owned technology, the complaint states.
Papst Licensing is a German patent holdings firm borrowing its name from prolific engineer and inventor Hermann Papst, who dabbled in various fields but is perhaps most well known for founding electric motor manufacturer Papst-Motoren. Papst's son Georg Papst purchased Papst-Motoren's patent portfolio in 1992 to create Papst Licensing, which is now run by a third generation of Papsts.
As a patent monetization entity, Papst is assigned intellectual property and enforces it, in court if necessary, as patent holder. According to its website, Papst has successfully negotiated some 150 licensing agreements with major electronics brands including Canon, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Samsung, Seagate, Sony and Toshiba. Most recently, Papst has gone after digital camera brands like Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic using the same IP leveraged against Apple. Many of those suits have been consolidated into a single case in Washington, D.C.
In its case against Apple, Papst seeks a jury trial for past and future damages.
Comments
Reading the lawsuit, I think Apple needs to stop selling everything in East Texas.
Then they couldn't really be held liable for anything brought to them in that jurisdiction.
Do a kind of "void in Rhode Island" kind of thing for online sales.
Apple- void in East Texas.
Still reading... I would think that a patent for a high-tech thing would be a bit more specific in it's implementation (which is what a patent is- the implementation of an idea).
"The method in claim 17, wherein the timer monitor is another counter counting time intervals in order to estimate the predetermined time period."
How does it do this? Or does your invention not have a working prototype? Just theoretical...
Seems like lots of patents these days are for ideas and not specific implementations of those ideas. How does that work with all of the fees involved in getting a patent? Do they not actually look at the applications submitted?
The easy answer is the USPTO and all other patent offices simply gave this guy a patent and didn't do any research into whether it made sense or was specific enough. Your quote demonstrates the problems these types of broad thinking parents cause.
The patents are littered with phrases like: "in such a way that" "memory means"... without telling what those means or ways are.
"matched to a very specific type of multi-purpose interface or SCSI interface" - Oh, it's old tech trying to say they invented new tech.
And the suit was filed by a guy named Goodpastor?
Bad pastor
As Yogi once said, this is dejà vu all over again.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
"Method of Lifting An Object Up To Face In Order To Communicate In Such A Way That Information Is Conveyed."
Between a very cool time piece and a payment device its worth every penny.
Add on top health, (calorie count, heart rate..)
Messaging in several creative ways..
Navigation.
Taptic engine..
Its already awesome! (And i have not even tried a single 3rd party App yet. )
But ofcourse it can be better...and it will get better with the very iteration.
LOL! That's one hell of a tangent!
Disclosure: I haven't read anything except for this article. If it turns out to be a valid patent that Apple has actually infringed - how much are we talking about? What are they asking for $-wise?
It's zeros and ones, these bits moved from here to there, it's the same process behind the floppy drive, and every data cable since the telegraph.
Stupid patent office. Government has gotten too fat, less government jobs would mean more competition for these life long entitlement drains, and we'd have a magnitude better of personal researching these claims, instead of the rubber stamp idiocy that typified the Patent Office under the leadership of Democrats and Republicans. If you've voted D or R, thanks a lot clowns, you own the responsibility. Next Election Day, stay home, consider holding your breath for as long as you can.
If you've voted D or R and are going to post below, before you bitch about patents, look in the mirror because your team, the ones you support, and you your lazy ignorant self, are to blame.
This seems to be an industry wide protocol.
How does Papst expect to profit from other companies efforts when their contribution is a minor part of the PTP protocol? Please can anybody help me to understand why Papst thinks they can force other companies to pay them when the protocol was created by many other companies.
I see a patent invalidation in their future.
Lol.. My bad...wrong Article. Lol