Apple sued over multitouch patent infringement

Taiwanese company Elan is suing Apple for violation of two touchscreen patents and is demanding a US sales ban on several Apple products. Elan feels empowered after a settlement with Synaptics.

Chip design company Elan says its patents granted in 1998 cover technology to determine the position of fingers on a touchscreen or pad, and enable operations such as zooming and pinching, writes the New York Times. The company speaks of ‘multifinger’ technology, while Apple speaks of multitouch. The Taiwanese company previously managed to obtain a sales ban against Synaptics products in a similar case. However, this was reversed after a counter-lawsuit, after which a settlement followed.

Elan says his patents are being infringed by the iPhone, iPod Touch and MacBook, and is demanding a sales ban on these products after two years of negotiations with Apple failed. The affected products represent fourth-quarter profits of $1.6 billion on Apple’s books. According to a spokeswoman, Elan received a fifth of its turnover with the delivery of touchpads, including for the Eee netbook from Asus.

Apple obtained a large multi-touch patent at the beginning of this year, but Elan stilt on its website that the patents of the two companies do not conflict with each other. Since the company apparently believes they complement each other, it will likely push for a settlement whereby the two license each other’s patents — a similar outcome that Elan achieved with Synaptics last year.