Israeli company sues Apple for patent infringement of dual camera technology
The Israeli company Corephotonics has sued Apple for allegedly using the technology patented by Corephotonics for the dual cameras of the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus without permission.
Corephotonics alleges in the lawsuit that Apple is infringing four of its patents with the cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus. According to MacRumors, the violation involves the violation of two patents for assembling a small telephoto lens, a patent called a dual aperture zoom digital camera, and a patent called high resolution thin multi-aperture imaging systems. The subpoena states that the Corephotonics patented camera technology is based on two lenses, a wide-angle and a telephoto lens, each with a fixed focal length.
According to the subpoena released in the US, the CEO of Corephotonics would have been approached by Apple about a possible collaboration. Apple is said to have praised the Israeli startup, which has recently raised about $50 million from a number of major tech companies such as Samsung Ventures, Foxconn and MediaTek, for the technology they developed, but in the end Apple declined to take up the offer. a license to the technology.
Corephotonics states that Apple has said that it could infringe on the Israeli company’s patents without much consequence. An Apple negotiator reportedly told the CEO of Corephotonics that if Apple infringed on the patents, it would take years and millions of dollars before Apple could be forced to sue for damages. An Apple spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The Israeli company was already working on the dual camera technology a few years ago. Corephotonics was founded in 2012 by David Medlovic, a professor of computer and software engineering at Tel Aviv University. Both Corephotonics and its Israeli competitor Linx have shown in the past in various demos and white papers that the combination of two cameras actually leads to better image quality. Linx specializes in modular camera modules and was acquired by Apple in 2015.
Corephotonics claims to be able to do the same as a competitor of Linx. The company specializes in image optimization through computational photography. Like Linx, Corephotonics claims to enable better, more detailed photos, thanks to the addition of a monochrome sensor, where the images are fused, as it were.