Depending on how you see it, a Luxembourg Company or Patent Troll by the name Arendi S.A.R.L. is suing Apple for patent infringement on three counts. They've already had some success suing Dell and Microsoft and now they're homing in on Apple. This time around, Arendi is claiming that Apple is infringing on three of their patents yet without specificity. In other words, they're "blanketly" stating that Apple's every product infringes their patents and they'll argue it claim by claim.
According to the official complaint filed with the Delaware court yesterday, Arendi had sued Microsoft and Dell in 2009 with one of the same patents that they're bringing against Apple which is patent 7,496,854 titled "Method, system and computer readable medium for addressing handling from a computer program." It's a patent owned by Arendi Holding Limited that's listed in the Cayman Islands.
Arendi lays it out in their complaint that in both cases (against Microsoft and Dell) the Company went before Honorable Leonard P. Stark in "Markman hearings" and in both cases the end result was obtaining a settlement from both parties. Being that they were private settlements we have no idea as to what kind of monetary gain Arendi walked away with. Yet it's safe to say that if they're back against Apple, they know that what worked before is likely to work again against Apple. In the case of Non-Practicing Entities or Patent Trolls, they have nothing to fear because Apple or any tech company for that matter is unable to counter sue them.
For the record, a Markman hearing is a pretrial hearing in a U.S. District Court during which a judge examines evidence from all parties on the appropriate meanings of relevant key words used in a patent claim, when patent infringement is alleged by a plaintiff.
Markman hearings are important, since the court determines patent infringement cases by the interpretation of claims. A Markman hearing may encourage settlement, since the judge's claim construction finding can indicate a likely outcome for the patent infringement case as a whole.
This is exactly the tactic Arendi is taking against Apple by pointing to specific claims in the case yet point at no specific product. In the 7,917,843 patent, Arendi is claiming that Apple infringes at least claims 2, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 30, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42 and 43 – literally or under the doctrine of equivalents by "making, using, selling, and/or offering for sale in the United States, and/or importing into the United States, Accused Products without authorization." No specific products are listed as it's just a shotgun approach in the hopes of hitting something.
In Count III, the allege that Apple has infringed on their patent 8,306,993 citing claims 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 24, 22 and 23 – should you wish to check them out.
The case was filed in the United States Delaware District Court and no Judge has been assigned as of yet. Is Arendi a patent troll or an IP defender? You be the Judge.
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Sites Covering our Original Report
NU Mobiel The Netherlands, NU Gadgets The Netherlands, Tweakers Belgium, MacDailyNews, NUzakelijk The Netherlands, iPhoneclub The Netherlands, All About Phones The Netherlands, MacSurfer, Twitter, Facebook, Apple News Freedom Hong Kong, Apple Investor News, Google Reader, Macnews, and more.
