Sunday, November 17, 2024
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Patent trollin’: Lawsuit targets Apple’s Touch ID, Face ID

Another day, another lawsuit. As noted by AppleInsider, an Australian patent holdings company (in other words, a “patent troll”) has filed suit against Apple, targeting Touch ID and Face ID with intellectual property acquired from defunct biometrics specialist Securicom.

CPC Patent Technologies in a complaint lodged with the patent holder-friendly U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas alleges Apple products protected by branded biometrics — Touch ID and Face ID — are in infringement of three patents. The Australian firm purchased the IP from the liquidation of Securicom in 2019.

According to the filing, the iPhone X, iPad Pro, second-generation iPhone SE and other products infringe on claims associated with the three patents. Specifically, devices protected by Touch ID and Face ID grant users secure access to a controlled system via enrollment and retrieval of biometric data.

By the way, a patent troll is an individual or an organization that purchases and holds patents for unscrupulous purposes such as stifling competition or launching patent infringement suits. In legal terms, a patent troll is a type of non-practicing entity: someone who holds a patent but is not involved in the design or manufacture of any product or process associated with that patent.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.