Apple pays $25 Million to settle a patent infringement

Apple has just agreed to pay $25 Million for a patent infringement lawsuit. This lawsuit was brought by Network-1 Technologies, which was suing for a patent from 1999 that just describes a file system function. "The present invention relates to an operating system in which documents are stored in a chronologically ordered 'stream'," the patent begins. It's a method similar to the Time Machine where files are displayed and stored serially.

The patent was first filed in 1999 by Yale University by Professor David Gelernter and Dr. Eric Freeman in 1996. Soon after filing the patent, the creators founded a company called Mirror Worlds LLC and began an expensive lawsuit against Apple for $625 Million, however, the lawsuit was overturned by the Supreme Court. The company also settled a lawsuit with Microsoft last year for the same patent for $4.6 Million. The patent was then sold to Network-1 Technologies and settled this new lawsuit.

As part of the settlement, Apple is receiving licenses to other Network-1 Technologies patents. This is probably to prevent another lawsuit from them.

As you've seen from these details, Mirror World Technologies is just a patent troll.

Via: | The Verge | iPhone Hacks | - Source: | Network-1 | - Image Source: | The Verge |

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