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.