Apple Inc. Litigation
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The multinational technology corporation
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
has been a participant in various legal proceedings and claims since it began operation and, like its competitors and peers, engages in
litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
in its normal course of business for a variety of reasons. In particular, Apple is known for and promotes itself as actively and aggressively enforcing its
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
interests.Remembering Steve Jobs
, General Patent Corporation, generalpatent.com, 2012-2. Accessed April 13, 2012. * Worthington, David

PCWorld, pcworld.com, March 4, 2010. Accessed 2012-4-13.

Apple, Inc., apple.com. Accessed 2012-07-22.
Moses, Lee, and Asher, Julian

''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' (SMH), smh.com.au, March 12, 2010. Accessed 2012-4-13.
From the 1980s to the present, Apple has been plaintiff or defendant in
civil action - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
s in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and other countries. Some of these actions have determined significant
case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...
for the
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
industry and many have captured the attention of the public and media. Apple's litigation generally involves intellectual property disputes, but the company has also been a party in lawsuits that include
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
claims, consumer actions, commercial
unfair trade practice Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws differ among state and federal laws to ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usuall ...
suits,
defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
claims, and
corporate espionage Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governme ...
, among other matters.


Background

Apple is a member of the
Business Software Alliance The Software Alliance, also known as BSA, is a trade group established by Microsoft in 1988 to represent commercial software makers. It is a member of the International Intellectual Property Alliance. Its principal activity is trying to stop cop ...
(BSA), whose principal activity is trying to stop copyright infringement of software produced by BSA members; Apple treats all its intellectual property as a business asset, engaging in litigation as one method among many to police its assets and to respond to claims by others against it.Apple Trademarks – Piracy Policy
Apple, Inc., apple.com. Accessed April 12, 2012.
Apple's portfolio of intellectual property is broad enough, for
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
s alone, to encompass several pages of the company's web site and, in April 2012, it listed 176 general business trademarks, 79
service mark A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in the United States and several other countries to identify a service rather than a product. When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. ...
s, 7 trademarks related to
NeXT Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...
products and services, and 2 trademarks related to FileMaker. Apple claims
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
interests in multiple products and processes and owns and licenses
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
s of various types as well and, while it states it generally does not license its patent portfolio, it does work with third parties having an interest in product interoperability.
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
alone was a named inventor on over 300 design and utility patents. Between January 2008 and May 2010, Apple Inc. filed more than 350 cases with the
U.S. Patent and Trademark office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
(USPTO) alone, most in opposition to or taking exception to others' use of the terms "apple", "pod", and "safari"; those cases include sellers of apples (the fruit), as well as many others' less unassuming use of the term "apple".U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board search for 'Apple Inc.'.
Accessed July 26, 2012. (This search is not instant and takes a minute to return results.)


Antitrust


Apple iPod, iTunes antitrust litigation

The case ''In re Apple iPod iTunes Antitrust Litigation'' was filed as a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
in 2005MacLean, Pamela, and Gullo, Karen
Apple's Jobs Must Answer Questions in ITunes Antitrust Suit
Bloomberg News, bloomberg.com, March 22, 2011. Accessed 2012-4-13. Apple customer Thomas Slattery filed the suit seeking class-action status on behalf of consumers, claiming Apple illegally limited consumer choice by limiting iPod content selection to the company's own iTunes music store.
claiming Apple violated the U.S. antitrust statutes in operating a music-downloading
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
that it created by changing its software design to the proprietary
FairPlay FairPlay is a digital rights management (DRM) technology developed by Apple Inc. It is built into the MPEG-4 Part 14, MP4 multimedia file format as an encrypted Advanced Audio Coding, AAC audio layer, and was used until April 2009 by the company ...
encoding In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
in 2004, resulting in other vendors' music files being incompatible with and thus inoperable on the
iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
. The suit initially alleged that five days after
RealNetworks RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of artificial intelligence and computer vision based products. RealNetworks was a pioneer in Internet streaming software and services. They are based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The company also p ...
released in 2004 its
Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
technology making its music playable on iPods, Apple changed its software such that the RealNetworks music would no longer play on iPods. The claims of Apple's changes to its encoding and its refusal to license FairPlay technology to other companies were dismissed by the court 2009, but the allegation of Apple's monopoly on the iPod's music download capabilities between 2004 and 2009 remained as of July 2012. In March 2011, ''Bloomberg'' reported that, after a related 3-year inquiry by the
Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...
, Apple agreed in 2008 to lower its prices on
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
tracks sold in the United Kingdom and that Steve Jobs had been directed by the court in March 2011 to make himself available to be
deposed Deposition by political means concerns the removal of a politician or monarch.
ORB: The Online Reference for Med ...
on Apple's FairPlay changes as they relate to the plaintiffs' monopolization claim.


Apple and AT&T Mobility antitrust class action

In October 2007 (four months after the iPhone was introduced), Paul Holman and Lucy Rivello filed a class action lawsuit (numbered C07-05152) in the Northern District of California. The lawsuit referenced Apple's
SIM lock SIM lock, simlock, network lock, carrier lock or (master) subsidy lock is a technical restriction built into GSM and CDMA mobile phones by mobile phone manufacturers for use by service providers to restrict the use of these phones to specific coun ...
on the iPhone and Apple's (at the time) complete ban on third-party apps, and alleged that the 1.1.1 software update was "expressly designed" to disable unapproved SIM cards and apps. The lawsuit said that this was an unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practice (see
False advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
) under California's Unfair Competition Law; that the combination of AT&T Mobility and Apple was to reduce competition and cause a monopoly in violation of California's antitrust law and the
Sherman Antitrust Act The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author. Th ...
; and that this disabling was a violation of the Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act. Shortly after this initial filing, other lawsuits were filed, and these were consolidated with the original Holman suit, bringing in additional plaintiffs and complaints: Timothy Smith, et al., v. Apple, Inc. et al., No. C 07-05662 RMW, adding complaints related to ringtones, and Kliegerman v. Apple, Inc., No. C 08-948, bringing in allegations under the federal
Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act The Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act (P.L. 93-637) is a United States federal law ( ''et seq.''). Enacted in 1975, the federal statute governs warranties on consumer products. The law does not require any product to have a warranty (it may be sold "as ...
. The combined case title was changed to "In Re Apple & AT&TM Anti-Trust Litigation." The court appointed lead counsel from the various plaintiffs' lawyers, and several versions of a combined complaint were filed. In October 2008, the court denied the defendants' motions to dismiss the case on the federal claims and granted their motions to dismiss the state unfair trade practice claims except in California, New York, and Washington, but gave the plaintiffs leave to amend those claims. In December 2011, the district court granted Apple and AT&T's motions to compel arbitration, following the Supreme Court decision in '' AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion'', and decertified the class; in April 2012 the Ninth Circuit denied plaintiffs permission to appeal.https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/0816AppleSuit.pdf Order Granting Apple's Motion To Dismiss Amended Consolidated Complaint, In Re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation No. C 11-cv-06714-YGR, U.S. Dist.Ct., N.D. Cal. 2013. Accessed August 25, 2013. In December 2011, immediately after class decertification of the previous case, a new group of plaintiffs led by Robert Pepper won the race to the courthouse by filing a complaint in the Northern District, which was combined with some slightly later filers and titled "In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation", case 11-cv-06714-YGR. The new case is essentially the same but is filed only against Apple, not AT&T Mobility. In late 2013, the various parts of the case were dismissed by the district court. The parts relating to SIM locking were rejected because AT&T was not a party and the plaintiffs were not willing to add AT&T. The remaining claim, in its final version, was that Apple monopolised the market for iPhone applications and that the plaintiffs were damaged by paying Apple's 30% commission for paid applications in the App Store, which the court rejected saying that the commission was "a cost passed-on to consumers by independent software developers", not paid by the consumers directly, and so the plaintiffs did not have standing under the Illinois Brick doctrine. The plaintiffs appealed to the Ninth District, which reversed the District Court's dismissal. The Ninth Circuit asked the question that in light of Illinois Brick, if Apple was to be treated as a manufacturer or producer, in which case the class did not have standing to sue, or if they were a distributor, in which case the class could sue for damages. Apple appealed the case to the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, which agreed to hear the case, '' Apple Inc. v. Pepper'' in its 2018 term. The Supreme Court upheld the Ninth Circuit's ruling in May 2019, in that the class did have standing to litigate Apple for antitrust concerns.


European antitrust investigation

In 2008, Apple agreed to cut the price UK consumers pay to download music for their iPods after a formal complaint to the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
from the UK consumer group ''
Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights and offering independen ...
'' demonstrated higher prices in UK for the same iTunes songs sold elsewhere in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU). The Commission began an antitrust investigation in 2007 of Apple's business practices after the complaint was made,Not the Apple of the EU's Eye: Brussels Accuses iTunes of Violating Competition Rules
''
Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...
'' International, April 3, 2007. Accessed July 22, 2012.
but ultimately the Commission probe found no agreements between Apple and major record labels on how iTunes is run in Europe,Oates, John
Apple cuts UK iTunes prices, Heads off EC investigation
''
The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
'', January 9, 2008. Accessed April 1, 2012.
only that Apple had been paying higher wholesale prices to UK music labels and was passing the cost along to UK customers.


eBook price-fixing lawsuit

In April 2012, the
U.S. Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States ...
(DOJ) and 33 U.S. states brought a civil antitrust action against Apple,
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
,
Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...
,
Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
, and Hachette Book Group, Inc., alleging violations of the Sherman Act.Complaint,
U.S. v. Apple, Inc.
Hachette Book Group, Inc., Harpercollins Publishers LLC, Verlagsgruppe Georg Von Holtzbrinck GMBH, Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC d/b/a Macmillan, The Penguin Group, a Division of Pearson PLC, Penguin Group (USA), Inc., and Simon & Schuster, Inc.'', case 1:12-cv-02826-UA and 11-md-02293, U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y., filed April 11, 2012. Accessed 2012-4-12.
The suit was filed in the
Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
and alleges the defendants conspired to restrain retail price competition in the sale of
e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
s because they viewed
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
's price discounting as a substantial challenge to their traditional business model. Regarding Apple in particular, the federal complaint alleged that "Apple facilitated the Publisher Defendants' collective effort to end retail price competition by coordinating their transition to an agency model across all retailers. Apple clearly understood that its participation in this scheme would result in higher prices to consumers." In such an agency-model, publishers set prices rather than sellers.US sues Apple and publishers over e-book prices
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
News, bbc.co.uk, April 11, 2012. Accessed 2012-4-12.Q&A: Apple and e-book prices
BBC News, bbc.co.uk, April 11, 2012. Accessed 2012-4-12.
Fifteen states and Puerto Rico also filed a companion federal case in Austin, Texas, against Apple, Penguin, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan. In the same month, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster settled with both the DOJ and the state attorneys general, with HarperCollins and Hachette agreeing to pay Texas and Connecticut $52 million in consumer restitution, leaving Apple, Penguin, and Macmillan as remaining defendants. As of July 2012, the case was still in the
discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
stage of litigation. On July 10, 2013, District Court Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan found Apple Inc. guilty of the violation of federal antitrust law, citing "compelling evidence" that Apple played a "central role" in a conspiracy with publishers to eliminate retail competition and the prices of e-books.


High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation

In 2014, Apple settled out of court both an antitrust lawsuit and a related class-action suit regarding
cold calling Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service ...
employees of other companies.


iOS Fees Litigation

Cap.A class-action lawsuit was filed in the California Northern District District Court by iOS app developers, alleging that Apple abuses its control of the iOS App Store to require its 30% revenue cut and its developer fee. The developers are being represented by the same law firm that won the previous eBook price-fixing scheme case.


Epic Games lawsuit

On August 13, 2020,
Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, M ...
filed a lawsuit against Apple as well as Google for antitrust violations and anti-competitive behavior. Epic, which had long since challenged the 30% revenue share that Apple, Google, and other digital storefronts took, had introduced a payment option in ''
Fortnite Battle Royale ''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed and published by Epic Games. It is a companion game to '' Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival game with construction elements. It was initially re ...
'' that day that allowed users to buy
microtransaction Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...
s directly from Epic at a discounted rate. Apple immediately removed ''Fortnite'' from their storefronts for violating their policies as apps are not allowed to bypass the App Store payment system; Google also removed the game for similar reasons from the Play Store. Epic subsequently filed the lawsuits against both companies after the game was pulled. The federal district judge issued a ruling in September 2021 that cleared Apple on nine of ten counts related to anti-trust charges Epic had raised, but did find that Apple's anti-steering provision violated California's anti-competition laws. The court issued a permanent injunction against Apple preventing them from blocking developers from including links in App Store apps to third-party payment systems or collecting information within apps to notify users about these systems.


Consumer class actions


Technical support class action

From 1993 to 1996, Apple developed a marketing strategy that promised free and unlimited live-telephone support on certain products for as long as the original purchaser owned those products; by 1997, however, changes in Apple's
AppleCare AppleCare+ is Apple's brand name for extended warranty and technical support plans for their devices. AppleCare+ extends the devices' one year limited warranty and the 90 days of technical support. It also includes unlimited repairs for accidental ...
support policy led Apple to rescind the offer, resulting in a consumer class action lawsuit for breach of contract. Apple denied wrongdoing but, in settlement of the claims, Apple ultimately reinstated the telephone support for the duration of original ownership of the otherwise obsolete products and customers affected by the change were given a limited reimbursement if they had been refused telephone support, had been charged per incident, or had incurred third party support charges.


iPod battery life class action

In 2004 and 2005, two state-level class action suits were filed against Apple in New York and California alleging the first, second, and third generation
iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
music players sold prior to May 2004 did not have the battery life represented and/or that the battery's capacity to take and hold a charge substantially diminished over time.Apple Computer Inc.
SEC Form 10-Q
February 1, 2005. Accessed April 2, 2012.
California case:
In re iPod Cases
'', Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4355, San Mateo Co. Sup. Ct.; and New York action: ''Mosley v. Apple Computer, Inc.'', case 7-04-cv-5773, U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y. (the "Mosley Action"). The information site Apple created for the California class action posted the .
Rather than litigate these claims, Apple entered into a settlement agreement in August 2005 after a fairness hearing in the California action, with the settlement terms designed to end the New York action as well. An appeal followed the California court's approval of the settlement but the appellate court upheld the settlement in December 2005.Apple Computer, Inc.

February 3, 2006. Accessed April 2, 2012.
Eligible members of the class were entitled to extended warranties, store credit, cash compensation, or battery replacement, and some incentive payments, with all unfiled claims expiring after September 2005. Apple agreed to pay all costs of the litigation, including incentive payments to the class members and the plaintiffs' attorney fees, but admitted no fault. In 2006 Apple Canada, Inc., also settled several similar Canadian class action suits alleging misrepresentations by Apple regarding iPod battery life.Apple, Inc.

May 1, 2008. Accessed April 2, 2012. The Canadian suits were termed ''Lenzi v. Apple Canada, Inc.''; ''Wolfe v. Apple Computer, Inc. and Apple Canada, Inc.''; ''Hirst v. Apple Canada, Inc.''; ''Hamilton v. Apple Computer, Inc. and Apple Canada, Inc.''.


iPad and iPhone privacy issue class action

In December 2010, two separate groups of iPhone and
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
users sued Apple, alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without the users' consent.Mukherjee and Ahmed
Apple sued over apps privacy issues; Google may be next
,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
, December 28, 2010. Accessed 2012-7-23.
The individual cases were consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, under the title ''In Re iPhone Application Litigation'', and further defendants were added to the action.
In Re iPhone Application Litigation
', case 10-CV-05878-LHK, U.S. Dist.Ct., N.D. Cal. 2011. Accessed January 28, 2012. Other consolidated actions related to the matter were identified by the court as: ''Chiu v. Apple, Inc.'', 11-cv-00407-LHK, filed 2011-1-27; ''Rodimer v. Apple, Inc., et al.'', 11-cv-00700-LHK, filed 2011-2-15; ''Gupta v. Apple, Inc.'', 11-cv-02110-LHK, filed 2011-4-28; ''Velez-Colon v. Apple, Inc.'', 11-cv-02270-LHK, filed May 9, 2011; ''Normand v. Apple, Inc.'', 11-cv-02317-LHK, filed 2011-5-10; and one case not yet consolidated, ''Jenkins v. Apple, Inc.'', 11-cv-01828-LHK, removed 2011-4-14. Other related actions with substantially similar allegations against Apple and other Defendants were filed in the District of Puerto Rico and the Northern District of Alabama.
The complainants petitioned the court for a ban on the "passing of user information without consent and monetary compensation," claimed damages for breach of privacy, and sought redress for other enumerated claims.Order Granting Defendants' Motions To Dismiss For Lack Of Article III Standing With Leave To Amend
''In Re iPhone Application Litigation'', case 11-MD-02250-LHK, September 20, 2011. The Consolidated Complaint contains eight claims: (1)
Negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
against Apple only; (2) Violation of
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA) is a United States cybersecurity bill that was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law (), which had been included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The law pr ...
("CFAA"), 18 U.S.C. § 1030; (3) Computer Crime Law, Cal. Penal Code § 502; (4) Trespass on Chattel; (5) Consumer Legal Remedies Act ("CLRA"), Cal. Civ. Code § 1750 against Apple only; (6) Unfair Competition under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200; (7) Breach of Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; and (8) Unjust Enrichment.
Press reports stated that in April 2011, Apple agreed to amend its developer agreement to stop this from happening "except for information directly necessary for the functionality of the apps"; however, the suit alleged that Apple took no steps to do this or enforce it "in any meaningful way due to criticism from advertising networks". The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
reported a pending congressional inquiry into the matter, with
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
members stating that commercial storage and usage of location information without a consumer's express consent is illegal under current law, but Apple defended its use of customer tracking in a letter released May 9, 2011, by the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
.Robertson, Jordan
Apple Slammed Over iPhone, iPad Location Tracking
''
The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'', washingtontimes.com, July 22, 2012.
AP
Apple Defends IPhone 'Hot Spot'-Logging
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
, NBC News.msn.com, May 10, 2011.
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
's senior director of technology published an article examining the data collected by his own iPhone, showing examples of the data collected and maps correlating the data.Brand, Zach
Sifting Through An iPhone's Geo Data, Row By Row
National Public Radio, ''All Tech Considered'', npr.org, April 23, 2011.
Separately, digital forensics researchers reported they regularly use the data collected from Apple
mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
s in working with law enforcement officials investigating crimes and have been doing so since at least mid-2010.Wolverton, Troy
Investigators use iPhones to track owners' movements
''
San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...
'', April 21, 2011.
In contrast with earlier statements, Apple revealed in a hearing with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that a "software bug" caused iPhones to continue to send anonymous location data to the company's servers, even when location services on the device were turned off.Tessler, Joelle, AP
Sen. Al Franken calls for Apple, Google app privacy policies
''San Jose Mercury News'', May 25, 2011.
In September 2011, the District Court granted Apple's
motion to dismiss In United States law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. It is a request to the judge (or judges) to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrativ ...
for lack of Article III
standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
and
failure to state a claim A demurrer is a pleading in a lawsuit that objects to or challenges a pleading filed by an opposing party. The word ''demur'' means "to object"; a ''demurrer'' is the document that makes the objection. Lawyers informally define a demurrer as a de ...
, but gave the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint, thereby not shutting out the claims permanently. The court ruled that without a showing of
legal damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
compensable under current law, the plaintiffs had not shown they sustained injury in fact by the defendants' actions. The problem facing the plaintiffs is the current state of electronic
privacy law Privacy law is the body of law that deals with the regulating, storing, and using of personally identifiable information, personal healthcare information, and financial information of individuals, which can be Personally identifiable information ...
, the issue being that there is no national privacy law that provides for compensatory damages for breach of privacy, and this is the same issue faced by victims of
data breach A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...
es, as breaches, per se, sustain no legal damages without a showing of actual and measurable harm such as monetary loss. Under U.S. law as of July 2012, it is only when a data breach results in actual loss as defined by applicable law that compensable damages arise.A case illustrating the 'no damages' problem is the ''Ceridian'' case: the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a trial court decision that employees of Ceridian Corporation's customers did not have standing to sue Ceridian after the payroll processing firm suffered a data breach. See
Reilly vs Ceridian
', Ct.App. 3d Cir., No. 11-1738, 2011-12-12, (on appeal from case 2-10-cv-05142, U.S. Dist. Ct., Dist. N.J. 2010). See also
Cherny v. Emigrant Bank
', 604 F.Supp. 2d 605, U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.N.Y. 2009. Accessed April 17, 2012.
The case remained on the California court's docket as of July 2012.


iTunes price-switching class action

In June 2009, a group of consumers filed the class action suits ''Owens v. Apple, Inc.'' and ''Johnson v. Apple Inc.'' against Apple on behalf of American individuals who purchased iTunes
gift card A gift card also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a parti ...
s and who were then unable to use the cards to purchase iTunes music at the price advertised on the card because Apple raised the price of the music after it sold the cards to consumers. The ''Johnson'' case''Johnson v. Apple Inc.'', case 1-09-CV-146501, Cal. Sup. Ct., Santa Clara, 2009. absorbed the ''Owens'' case
Owens v. Apple, Inc.
', 09-cv-0479-MJR, U.S. Dist. Ct., S.D.Ill., 2009.
and was settled on February 10, 2012, with payments to be made to consumers by Apple. The ''Owens'' complaint alleged that Apple wrongfully marketed, distributed, and sold iTunes gift cards and songs through its online iTunes store, while representing that consumers could use the gift cards to purchase songs for US$0.99 a song and then, after such gift cards were purchased, raised the price on certain songs to $1.29 on April 7, 2009. The lawsuit's allegations included that Apple's conduct constituted breach of contract, violated the state consumer fraud statute, and violated consumer protection statutes of other states. The plaintiffs sought a $.30 refund remedy for each song that class members purchased using a $.99 iTunes card for which they were charged $1.29, plus their attorneys' fees and costs. Apple mounted a vigorous defense and sought to dismiss the suit but lost its motion in December 2009. Individuals are part of the class of plaintiffs if they are U.S. residents who purchased or received an iTunes Gift Card on which the card itself or its packaging contained language to the effect that songs were priced at $0.99 and who used the card to purchase one or more $1.29 songs from the iTunes Store on or before May 10, 2010. The settlement provides class members with an iTunes Store credit of $3.25 if an online claim form was submitted on or before September 24, 2012.


Macbook MagSafe power adapter class action

Apple settled a U.S. class action in 2011 regarding the older T-shaped MagSafe power adapters. Apple agreed to replace the adapters with newer adapters, and to compensate customers who were forced to buy replacement adapters.


In-app purchases class action

In 2011, five parents filed a class action suit against Apple for "in-app" purchases, which are purchases that can be made within applications ("apps"). The parents contended that Apple had not disclosed that the "free" apps that were to be used by children had the potential to rack up fees without the parent's knowledge. Potentially 23 million customers could make up the class. Apple offered a settlement option for customers who had fees in excess of $30. In 2011 The
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
(FTC) investigated similar claims. This settled for $100 million. The FTC's action lead to a payout of $32.5 million payout in February 2014. A similar case was filed by a parent in March 2014 against
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
.


iPhone slowdown class action

Apple was claimed to intentionally slow down old iPhone models by adjusting their operating systems in order to encourage users to buy new products. The company confirmed these suspicions but said that the slowdown is exclusively due to the fact that the performance of old lithium-ion batteries decreases over time. Nevertheless, users were forced to spend extra on battery replacement to restore their phones' former speed. After the issuance of a class-action lawsuit in 2017 and lengthy litigation, in 2020, Apple agreed to pay the compensation of $500m (about $25 for each affected user). In June 2022, a class action claim was launched with the
Competition Appeal Tribunal The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom was created by Section 12 and Schedule 2 to the Enterprise Act 2002 which came into force on 1 April 2003. The Competition Service is an executive non-departmental public body which ...
based on the same software update. The claim states that the lack of an option to disable the slowdown and the absence of a warning about it meant that the phones were "throttled" deliberately. The claim was made for £750 million and would affect an estimated 25 million users in the event of a payout.


Battery charger class action (Brazil)

In October 2022, Apple was fined $19 million in a class action lawsuit, with the Sao Paulo state court ruling that the company must include battery chargers with all iPhones sold in the country after the ruling was issued. Apple stated that it would appeal the decision.


Trade practice


''Resellers v. Apple''

In 2004, independent Apple resellers filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging the company used misleading advertising practices by using unfair business practices that harmed the resellers' sales while boosting Apple-owned outlets, in effect by favoring its own outlets over those of its resellers.Oates, John
Apple resellers are revolting
''The Register'', June 16, 2004. Accessed May 2, 2007.
The lawsuit claimed that Apple favored company-owned stores by providing significant discounts unavailable to independent dealers. The complaint alleged Apple's acts in favoring its own stores constituted breach of contract, false advertising, fraud, trade libel, defamation, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. in the reseller actions of 2003-2005. Accessed April 2, 2012. , Apple reached settlements with all of the plaintiffs, including the bankruptcy trustee for one reseller that failed, while the former principal of that company appealed the bankruptcy court's approval of the settlement.


Defamation


Libel dispute with Carl Sagan

In 1994, engineers at Apple Computer code-named the mid-level
Power Macintosh 7100 The Power Macintosh 7100 is a personal computer that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1994 to January 1996. It is the mid-range machine of the first generation of Power Macintosh line, between the Power Macintos ...
"
Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
" after the popular astronomer in the hope that Apple would make "
billions and billions ''Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium'' is a 1997 book by the American astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan. The last book written by Sagan before his death in 1996, it was published by Rando ...
" with the sale of the computer.Poundstone, William, Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos, Henry Holt & Company, New York, 1999, pp. 363–364, 374–375. Apple used the name only internally, but after the name was publicized in a 1993 issue of ''
MacWeek ''MacWEEK'' was a controlled-circulation weekly Apple Macintosh trade journal based in San Francisco founded by Michael Tchong, John Anderson, Glenn Patch, Dick Govatski, and Michael F. Billings. It featured a back-page rumor column penned by the ...
'', Sagan was concerned that it would become a product endorsement and sent Apple a
cease-and-desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not disc ...
letter. Apple complied, but its engineers retaliated by changing the internal codename to "BHA" for "Butt-Head Astronomer".Poundstone, p. 364 Sagan then sued Apple for
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
in federal court. The court granted Apple's motion to dismiss Sagan's claims and opined in
dicta In general usage, a dictum ( in Latin; plural dicta) is an authoritative or dogmatic statement. In some contexts, such as legal writing and church cantata librettos, ''dictum'' can have a specific meaning. Legal writing In United States legal term ...
that a reader aware of the context would understand Apple was "clearly attempting to retaliate in a humorous and satirical way", and that "It strains reason to conclude that Defendant was attempting to criticize Plaintiff's reputation or competency as an astronomer. One does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase 'butt-head'." Sagan then sued for Apple's original use of his name and likeness, but again lost and appealed that ruling.Poundstone, p. 374 In November 1995, Apple and Sagan reached an out-of-court settlement and Apple's office of trademarks and patents released a conciliatory statement that "Apple has always had great respect for Dr. Sagan. It was never Apple's intention to cause Dr. Sagan or his family any embarrassment or concern". Apple's third and final code name for the project was "LaW", short for "Lawyers are Wimps".


Trademarks, copyrights, and patents


Trademark


Apple Corps

For nearly 30 years
Apple Corps Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pro ...
(
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
-founded record label and holding company) and Apple Inc. (then Apple Computer) litigated a dispute involving the use of the name "Apple" as a
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
and its association with music. In 1978, Apple Corps filed suit against Apple Computer for trademark infringement and the parties settled in 1981 with Apple Computer paying an undisclosed amount to Apple Corps, later revealed to be $80,000. A primary condition of the settlement was that Apple Computer agreed to stay out of the music business. In 1991, after Apple introduced the
Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...
with an
Ensoniq Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally Sampler (musical instrument), samplers and synthesizers. Company history In spring 1983, former MO ...
music synthesizer chip, Apple Corps alleged the product to be in violation of the terms of their settlement. The parties then reached another settlement agreement and Apple paid Apple Corps around $26.5 million, with Apple agreeing it would not package, sell, or distribute physical music materials. In September 2003, Apple Corps again sued Apple Computer alleging Apple Computer had breached the settlement once more, this time for introducing
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and the
iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...
. Apple Corps alleged Apple Computer's introduction of the music-playing products with the
iTunes Music Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...
violated the terms of the previous agreement in which Apple agreed not to distribute music. The trial opened on March 29, 2006, in the UK. and ended on May 8, 2006, with the court issuing judgement in favor of Apple Computer. " find no breach of the trademark agreement has been demonstrated," the presiding Justice Mann said. On February 5, 2007, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps announced another settlement of their trademark dispute, agreeing that Apple Inc. would own all of the trademarks related to 'Apple' and would license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for its continued use. The settlement ended the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. continuing to use the Apple name and logos on iTunes. The settlement's full terms were confidential.


Swatch Group

In April 2019, a Swiss court ruled against Apple’s claim that the ‘Tick Different’ slogan employed by watchmaker
Swatch Group The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 by the merger of ASUAG and SSIH to move to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the traditional Sw ...
had infringed on Apple’s
Think Different "Think different" is an advertising slogan used from 1997 to 2002 by Apple Computer, Inc., now named Apple Inc. The campaign was created by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. The slogan has been widely taken as a respon ...
advertising campaign that ran from 1997 until 2002. Swatch contended that Apple’s campaign wasn’t well known enough in Switzerland to warrant protection and the Federal Administrative Court concluded that Apple had failed to produce sufficient documentation to support its claim.


Domain name disputes


=''appleimac.com''

= In an early
domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
dispute, two months before announcing the
iMac iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms. In it ...
in July 1998, Apple sued then-teenager Abdul Traya. Having registered the domain name ''appleimac.com'' in an attempt to draw attention to the web-hosting business he ran out of his parents' basement, a note on Traya's site stated that his plan was to "generate traffic to our servers and try to put the domain to sale. "Lipton Krigel, Beth
Teen in dispute with Apple over domain
CNET News, news.cnet.com, February 19, 1999. Accessed 2012-7-23.
After a legal dispute lasting for nearly a year, Apple settled out of court, paying Traya's legal fees and giving him a 'token payment' in exchange for the domain name.


=''itunes.co.uk''

= The Apple-Cohen dispute was a
cybersquatting Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting) is the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The term is derived ...
case where a top-level domain registrar's decision differed from prior decisions by awarding a domain name to a subsequent registrant (Apple), rather than to the prior registrant (Cohen). As the decision recounts,Full text of the ''Nominet-Cohen'' decision, including the full history of the use of the domain itunes.co.uk
Nominet Cohen-Apple decision
in November 2000, Benjamin Cohen of CyberBritain registered the domain name ''itunes.co.uk''. The domain initially pointed to ''skipmusic.com'', and then to ''cyberbritain.com'', and was then inoperative for some time. Apple applied for a UK trademark for ''iTunes'' in October 2000 which was granted in March 2001, and then launched its UK iTunes music store service in 2004. Afterward, Cohen reactivated his registered domain name, redirecting it to iTunes' then-rival,
Napster Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...
;Nominet UK Dispute Resolution Service
Decision of Independent Expert
DRS No. 02223, p. 3, March 10, 2005. Accessed 2012-7-23.
later Cohen forwarded the domain name to his CyberBritain's cash back/rewards website. In 2005, Apple took the matter to the Dispute Resolution Service operated by
.uk .uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us. , it is the fift ...
domain name registry A domain name registry is a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet that enables third party entities to request administrative control of a do ...
Nominet UK Nominet UK is currently delegated by IANA to be the manager of the .uk domain name. Nominet directly manages registrations directly under .uk, and some of the second level domains .co.uk, .org.uk, .sch.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .ltd.uk and .plc.uk. ...
(the DRS), claiming that Apple had trademark rights in the name "iTunes" and that the use of the domain name by Cohen's company was abusive (these being the two tests under the DRS rules for prevailing in a matter where the complaint related only to the later use of a trademarked name).iTunes.co.uk Background
Nominet.org.uk., Accessed July 24, 2012
The dispute was unresolved at the free
mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...
stage and so Apple paid for an independent expert to decide the case; the expert decided the dispute in Apple's favor. Cohen thereafter launched a media offensive claiming the DRS was biased in favor of large businesses and made frequent threats of lawsuits against Nominet.McCarthy, Kieren
Cohen disputes UK registry's legitimacy
''The Register'', Financial News, May 27, 2005.
Cohen stated he believed that the DRS system was unfair for a number of reasons and would seek redress against Nominet with the High Court via
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
. Nominet stated that Cohen should appeal the case via the appeal process in the DRS. Cohen refused and, after several months, instead issued proceedings for judicial review.Richardson, Tim
Nominet faces judicial review over itunes.co.uk ownership
''The Register'', Music and Media, June 17, 2005.
The High Court at first instance rejected Cohen's case in August 2005, noting that Cohen's company, Cyberbritain Group Ltd., should have used the appeal process forming part of Nominet's domain resolution service.High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division, Administrative Court,
Cyberbritain Group Ltd. vs. Nominet UK Ltd.
', CO Ref: CO/8360/2005, August 4, 2005.
Afterward, Cohen's company asked for a rehearing and, as that case progressed, the interim domain name was transferred to Apple in accord with the expert's decision and thereafter pointed to the Apple music site. In November 2005, Cohen dropped all legal action against Apple.Richardson, Tim
Cohen ends legal bid for itunes.co.uk
Financial News, ''The Register'', November 25, 2005.


Cisco Systems: iPhone mark

In 2006,
Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...
and Apple negotiated over allowing Apple rights to use Cisco's
Linksys iPhone The Linksys iPhone was a line of internet appliances from Cisco Systems. The first iPhone model – released by Infogear in 1998 – combined the features of a regular phone and a web terminal. The company was later purchased by Cisco and no ...
trademark, but the negotiations stalled when Cisco pushed for the two products to be interoperable. Following the public unveiling of the Apple iPhone at the 2007
Macworld Expo Macworld/iWorld was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Expo'' and then ''Macworld Conference & Expos ...
, Cisco filed a lawsuit against Apple in January 2007, alleging Apple's iPhone name infringed on Cisco's iPhone trademark. Cisco alleged that Apple created a front company subsequent to their negotiations to try to acquire the rights another way, while Apple countered that there would be no
likelihood of confusion In trademark law, confusing similarity is a test used during the examination process to determine whether a trademark conflicts with another, earlier mark, and also in trademark infringement proceedings to determine whether the use of a mark infri ...
between the two products, because Apple's iPhone product was the first cell phone with such a name, while Cisco's iPhone was a
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
phone. Bloomberg reported Cisco's iPhone as a product marketed for less than $100 and part of the
Linksys Linksys is an American brand of data networking hardware products mainly sold to home users and small businesses. It was founded in 1988 by the couple Victor and Janie Tsao, both Taiwanese immigrants to the United States. Linksys products incl ...
home routers, enabling internet-based calls through
Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
and
Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! Messenger (sometimes abbreviated Y!M) was an advertisement-supported instant messaging client (computing), client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger was provided free of charge and could be downloaded and used wit ...
, and contrasted it with Apple's iPhone as a
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
which sold for around $600.Levy, Ari, and Guglielmo, Connie
Apple Can Sell IPhones This Year After Cisco Deal (Update3)
Bloomberg News, February 22, 2007. Accessed April 2, 2012.
In February 2007, Cisco and Apple announced an agreement under which both companies would be allowed to use the iPhone name worldwide.


Sector Labs: use of Pod

In March 2007, Apple opposed a trademark application by startup Sector Labs, which sought to register "Video Pod" as a mark identifying goods associated with a video projector product. Apple argued that the proposed mark was merely "descriptive" and should be denied because the registration would cause a likelihood of confusion with Apple's pre-existing "iPod" marks.Apple Inc.
Final Trial Brief
Video Pod matter, Opposition No. 91176027. Accessed April 11, 2012.
In March 2012, the U.S.
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) is an administrative tribunal within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The TTAB is empowered to determine the right to register a trademark. It has no authority to determine the righ ...
(TTAB) ruled in Apple's favor and denied Sector Labs' registration, finding that the "iPod" mark was "famous" and therefore entitled to broad protection under U.S. trademark law.Trademark Trial and Appeal Board,
TTAB Decision
, Video Pod matter, Opposition No. 91176027, p. 47. Accessed July 25, 2012. The TTAB sustained Apple's opposition to the registration of the VIDEO POD mark under both Section 2(e)(1) and Section 2(d) of the Lanham Act.


New York City "GreeNYC" logo

In January 2008, Apple filed an opposition with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board against
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's (NYC) trademark application for the "
Big Apple "The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sportswriter for the ''New York Morning Telegraph''. Its popularity since the 1970s is due in part to a promotional campaign by th ...
" logo for NYC's GreeNYC initiative, by designer Blake E. Marquis. NYC originally filed for its trademark: "a stylized apple design" for " ucation services, namely, providing public service announcements on policies and practices of the City of New York in the field of environmentally sustainable growth" in May 2007, with an amendment filed in June 2007.Trademark application and history, #77179942
NYC logo matter. Accessed July 27, 2012.
The TTAB's Notice of Publication was published in September 2007 and Apple filed an opposition with the TTAB the following January, claiming a likelihood of confusion. In June 2008, NYC filed a motion to amend its application to delete the leaf element from its design, leaving the stem, and the TTAB dismissed Apple's opposition and
counterclaim In a court of law, a party's claim is a counterclaim if one party asserts claims in response to the claims of another. In other words, if a plaintiff initiates a lawsuit and a defendant responds to the lawsuit with claims of their own against th ...
s in accordance with the parties'
stipulation In United States law, a stipulation is a formal legal acknowledgment and agreement made between opposing parties before a pending hearing or trial. For example, both parties might stipulate to certain facts and so not have to argue them in court. A ...
in July 2008. In November 2011, the TTAB issued NYC's trademark registration.USPTO
NYC Trademark Status
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, February 23, 2010; an
USPTO TDR Portlet for Serial No. 77179942.
Accessed 2012-7-22.


Victoria School of Business and Technology

In September 2008, Apple sent a cease and desist letterApples and Oranges: VSBT vs. Apple Inc. Logo Dispute
, Q College, January 14, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.
to the Victoria School of Business and Technology in
Saanich, British Columbia Saanich ( ) is a district municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, within the Greater Victoria area. The population was 117,735 at the 2021 census, making it the most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and V ...
, claiming the school's logo infringed Apple's trademark rights and that the school's logo falsely suggested Apple had authorized the school's activities.No Apple for Vancouver Island School, Says Computer Corporation
CBC News, October 6, 2008. Accessed July 27, 2012.
The logo in question featured the outline of an apple and a leaf, although the design incorporated a mountain, had three bumps on top of the apple instead of the two used by Apple, and had no bite out of the apple, unlike Apple's logo.CTV
Will Apple's suit against B.C. school bear fruit?
''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', October 6, 2008. Accessed July 22, 2012.
In April 2011, the school reported it had settled its 3-year dispute with Apple, was launching a new logo under a new name, Q College, and was expanding its operations. The settlement's full terms were undisclosed.Business school drops use of Apple's forbidden fruit
''Times Colonist'', April 1, 2011. Accessed July 27, 2012.


Woolworths Limited logo

In October 2009, Apple disputed a trademark application by
Woolworths Limited Woolworths Group Limited is an Australian trans-Tasman retailer headquartered in Bella Vista, Sydney, with extensive operations throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the largest company in Australia by revenue and the second-largest in N ...
in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
over the new logo for its supermarket chain
Woolworths Supermarkets Woolworths Supermarkets (colloquially known in Australia as "Woolies") is an Australian chain of supermarkets and grocery stores owned by Woolworths Group. Founded in 1924, Woolworths today is Australia's biggest supermarket chain with a mar ...
, a stylised "W", similar in shape to an apple. Apple reportedly took objection to the breadth of Woolworths' application, which would allow it to brand products, including consumer electronics, with the logo.Lee, Julian
Apple bites over Woolworths logo
''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', theage.com.au, October 5, 2009. Accessed July 25, 2012.
In April 2011, Woolworths amended its trademark application to remove various goods and services, such as "apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images" and Apple withdrew its opposition, allowing the trademark to proceed to registration. In August 2011 Woolworths introduced a shopping app for the iPhone, and, as of January 2019 continues to use the logo, including on the face of its iPhone app. The Woolworths smartphone app is also available on Apple's
App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
Woolworth's App
in the Apple AppStore, itunes.apple.com. Accessed July 27, 2012.
where the logo is featured prominently; Apple closely manages its App Store offerings.


''Apple v. DOPi'': lower-case i use

In March 2010, an Australian Trademarks tribunal denied Apple's attempt to prevent a small company from trademarking the name DOPi for use on its laptop bags and cases for Apple products. Apple argued that the DOPi name — which is iPod spelled backwards — is too similar to its own product's name, the iPod.


Proview: iPad trademark

In 2006, Apple secured
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
ese rights to the iPad mark from the Taiwanese company Proview Electronics; in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
the iPad mark was still owned by the subsidiary of Proview Electronics,
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
company Proview Technology, as of April 2012.Apple loses China iPad trademark case
''
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
'', abc.net.au, December 8, 2011. Accessed April 11, 2012.
Kurtenbach, Elain
Apple: Proview's iPad Trademark Demands Unfair
the ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', March 13, 2012. Accessed 2012-4-11.
Proview Technology sued Apple over the rights to the mark in China in 2011; Apple counter-sued but lost and then appealed, with the case before the Xicheng district court, where Proview claimed $1.6 billion USD in damages.Bonnington, Christina
Chinese Firm Demands $1.6 Billion from Apple in iPad Trademark Dispute
Wired.com, February 7, 2012. Accessed April 11, 2012.
Apple paid Proview approximately $53,000 – $55,000 for the mark in 2009. In February 2012, Proview sued Apple in the Santa Clara Superior Court, alleging several permutations of
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
(intentional misrepresentation, concealment, inducement) and unfair competition. Apple paid $60 million to Proview to end the dispute in a court-mediated settlement in the Higher People's Court of
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province; the U.S. case was thrown out of court.


Amazon "App Store"

In 2011, Apple filed suit against
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition, and
dilution Dilution may refer to: * Reducing the concentration of a chemical * Serial dilution, a common way of going about this reduction of concentration * Homeopathic dilution * Dilution (equation), an equation to calculate the rate a gas dilutes *Tradema ...
under the
Lanham Act The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal trademark statute of law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising. ...
and related California state law over Amazon's use of the "App Store" phrase relating to Amazon's "
Amazon Appstore Amazon Appstore is an app store for Android-compatible platforms operated by Amazon.com Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. The store is primarily used as the storefront for Amazon's Android-based Fire OS. including Amazon Fire tablets, a ...
Developer Portal" and Amazon's alleged other similar uses of the phrase.
Apple Inc v. Amazon.com Inc.
', 11-1327, U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D.Ca., filed March 18, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.
In its complaint, Apple did not refer to "apps" as a common name, but described its applications store as a place consumers license "software programs or products"; Amazon countered in its answer that "app store" is a common phrase meaning a "place to buy apps".
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
reported that
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
was opposing Apple's attempted registration of the phrase as a trademark and that part of the matter was before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).Levine, Dan
Apple sues Amazon.com over APP STORE trademark
, Reuters, reuters.com, March 22, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-22.
Apple motioned the court for a
preliminary injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
to bar Amazon from using the "App Store" name but, in July 2011, U.S. District Judge
Phyllis Hamilton Phyllis Jean Hamilton (born 1952) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Education and career Born in Jacksonville, Illinois, Hamilton received a Bachelor of Arts ...
, presiding over Apple's case against Amazon, denied Apple's motion.Apple Inc v. Amazon.com Inc., Order Denying Motion For Preliminary Injunction, No. C 11-1327 PJH, July 6, 2011. Accessed July 27, 2012. In July 2012, the case was still in the discovery stage of litigation. In January 2013, Apple's claims were rejected by a US District judge, who argued that the company presented no evidence that Amazon had " ttemptedto mimic Apple's site or advertising", or communicated that its service "possesses the characteristics and qualities that the public has come to expect from the Apple APP STORE and/or Apple products" In July 2013, Apple dropped the lawsuit.


Trade secrets


''Apple v. Does''

Ultimately decided under the title ''O'Grady v. Superior Court'', the suit filed by Apple against unnamed bloggers raised the issue for the first time of whether bloggers hold the same protections against revealing sources that
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
s have. In November 2004, three popular
weblog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
sites featuring Apple rumors publicly revealed information about two unreleased Apple products, the
Mac mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. , it is positioned between the consumer all-in-one iMac (Intel-based), iMac and the profes ...
and an as yet unreleased product code-named ''Asteroid'', also known as ''Project Q97''. Apple
subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
ed three sites to force them to identify their confidential sources: ''
Apple Insider The Apple community is a group of people interested in Apple Inc. and its products, who report information in various media. Generally this has evolved into a proliferation of websites, but latterly has also expanded into podcasts (both audio and ...
'', ''Power Page'', and, separately,
Think Secret Think Secret, founded in 1998, was a web site which specialized in publishing reports and rumors about Apple Inc. The name of the site was a play on Apple's one-time advertising slogan, "Think Different". Think Secret's archives reached as far back ...
, which did no original reporting on the case and thus had no sources to reveal. In February 2005, a trial court in California decided that website operators do not have the same
shield law A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from melee weapon, close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, ...
protection as do other journalists. The journalists appealed and, in May 2006, the
California Court of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.
reversed the trial court's decision, ruling that activities in question were covered by the shield law.


''Apple v. Think Secret''

In ''Apple Computer v. DePlume'', a case illustrating one of Apple's methods of protecting its claims in
trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily asc ...
s, Apple sued
Think Secret Think Secret, founded in 1998, was a web site which specialized in publishing reports and rumors about Apple Inc. The name of the site was a play on Apple's one-time advertising slogan, "Think Different". Think Secret's archives reached as far back ...
's parent company, the dePlume Organization LLC, and Think Secret's editor in January 2005, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets with regard to Think Secret's stories on a "headless iMac" and new version of
iWork iWork is an office suite of applications created by Apple Inc. for its macOS and iOS operating systems, and also available cross-platform through the iCloud website. It includes the presentation application Keynote, the word processing and desk ...
.Fried, Ina
Apple suit foreshadows coming products
CNET News, news.cnet.com, January 5, 2005. Accessed July 22, 2012.
In response, DePlume filed a motion to dismiss the case based on
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
grounds under California's state
Anti-SLAPP Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with ...
statute, a law designed to dispense with meritless legal claims attempting to silence valid exercises of freedom of speech., Think Secret (via archive.org), 2005-3-4, January 25, 2008. Accessed 2012-7-27. In late 2007, Think Secret announced "Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published".


Copyright


''Apple v. Franklin''

''Apple v. Franklin'' established the fundamental basis of copyright of computer software, even if it was provided only as object code or in
firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...
. In 1982, Apple filed a lawsuit against Franklin Computer Corp., alleging that Franklin's ACE 100 personal computer used illegal copies of the
Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
's
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
and
ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...
. The case was decided in Franklin's favor but reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.


Object code cases and conflicts of law

Apple's litigation over
object code In computing, object code or object module is the product of a compiler. In a general sense object code is a sequence of statements or instructions in a computer language, usually a machine code language (i.e., binary) or an intermediate langua ...
contributed to the development of contemporary copyright law because the company's object code cases brought different results in different courts, creating a
conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...
that resulted in international litigation. In the 1980s, Apple litigated two copyright cases with central issues that included the question of whether object code (as contrasted with
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
) of a computer program is subject to copyright laws. A third case in which Apple was not a party but that involved the Apple decisions followed in New Zealand. The specific cases were ''Computer Edge Pty. Ltd. v Apple Computer Inc.'' (1986, Australia) ("''Computer Edge''"),''Computer Edge Pty. Ltd. v Apple Computer Inc.'', 65 ALR 33, 1986; F.S.R. 537, 1986, High Court of Australia. ''Apple Computer Inc. v Mackintosh Computers Ltd.'', (Canada, 1987) ("''Apple v. Mackintosh''"),''Apple Computer Inc. v Mackintosh Computers Ltd.'', 44 DLR (4th) 74 Federal Court of Appeal, 1987, Canada, (later affirmed
Supreme Court of Canada
, 9902 S.C.R. 209). Accessed July 22, 2012.
and ''IBM v. Computer Imports Ltd.'' ("''IBM v. Computer Imports''"), (New Zealand, 1989).''International Business Machines Corporation v. Computer Imports Limited'', 2 NZLR 395, 409, 1989. In the ''Computer Edge'' case, the Australian court decided against the then-prevailing opinions in other courts (the U.K., Canada, South Africa, and the U.S.) and ruled object code was not copyrightable,In ''Computer Edge'' the court looked to 1986 161 CLR 171 (test in Exxon for literary work is "not intended to establish a comprehensive or exhaustive definition of literary work for copyright purposes" per Mason and Wilson JJ (Aus.)). while the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
in ''Apple v. Mackintosh'' reversed its earlier decisions and ruled that because object code was a translation of source code and embodied in a silicon chip, it was therefore a translation of an original literary work expressed in a material form and unauthorized reproduction of the object code was therefore an infringement of copyright. The Canadian court opined that programs within
ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...
silicon chips are protected under the
Copyright Act of Canada The ''Copyright Act'' of Canada is the federal statute governing copyright law in Canada. It is jointly administered by the Department of Industry Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. The ''Copyright Act'' was first passed in 1921 and su ...
and the conversion from the source code into object code is a form of
translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
. It further held that such translation does not include the expression of an idea in another form, but rather only applies to the expression of an idea in another language, and that a translation has a one-to-one correspondence between works that are expressed in two different languages. In these conflict of laws cases, Apple met with conflicting international judicial opinions: an Australian court decision conflicted with a Canadian court decision on the copyrightability of object code. In ''IBM v. Computer Imports'', the
High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...
then considered these prior decisions and sided with the Canadian decision in ruling that, although object code is not an original literary work in its own right, it is a reproduction of source code in material form and therefore an infringement of copyright takes place if it is copied without the authorization of the copyright owner. Such legal conflicts affected not only Apple, but all other software companies as well, and the conflicts remained unresolved until the creation of an international legal regime embodied in further changes to national copyright laws, which ultimately made object code subject to copyright law.The 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (
TRIPs The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by nat ...
), the 1991 European Economic Council Directive on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs ("
EC Directive A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before the ...
"), the
Copyright Act of Canada The ''Copyright Act'' of Canada is the federal statute governing copyright law in Canada. It is jointly administered by the Department of Industry Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. The ''Copyright Act'' was first passed in 1921 and su ...
, the New Zealand
Copyright Act 1994 The Copyright Act 1994 is an Act of Parliament passed in New Zealand that, along with its various amendments, governs copyright in New Zealand. It is administered by Intellectual Property Policy Unit of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and ...
, and other national copyright law revisions.
These revisions of law in favor of making object code subject to copyright law are still controversial.Corbett, Susan
What if Object Code Had Been Excluded from Protection as a Literary Work in Copyright Law?
a paper for presentation at the 4th Annual Intellectual Property Conference: ''Rewriting History: Counterfactuals and Alternative Stories in Intellectual Property and Cyberspace Law'', Michigan State Univ. College of Law, 2007:3. Accessed July 27, 2012.
The revisions also form the technical underpinnings (via the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...
(DMCA) and the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) was enacted by the United States Congress to extend restrictions on government wire taps of telephone calls to include transmissions of electronic data by computer ( ''et seq.''), added new pro ...
) for the legal notions of electronic privacy violation and computer trespass, as well as the further development of anti-hacking law-making such as the
Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropr ...
and the
Convention on Cybercrime The Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime or the Budapest Convention, is the first international treaty seeking to address Internet and computer crime (cybercrime) by harmonizing national laws, improving ...
.


''Apple v. Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard''

In 1988, after the introduction of Microsoft's Windows 2.0, Apple filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
alleging that
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and HP's NewWave violated Apple's copyrights in the
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
. Cited, among other things, was the use of overlapping and resizable windows in Windows 2.0. The case was one of the "
look and feel In software design, the look and feel of a graphical user interface comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces (the "look"), as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes ...
" copyright lawsuits of the 1980s. After several years in court, Apple's claims against Microsoft were dismissed, primarily due to a license
John Sculley John Sculley III (born April 6, 1939) is an American businessman, entrepreneur and investor in high-tech startups. Sculley was vice-president (1970–1977) and president of PepsiCo (1977–1983), until he became chief executive officer (CEO) ...
had negotiated with
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
for Windows 1.0. The decision was upheld on appeal in 1994, but legal disputes on this topic were still ongoing until 1997, when the two companies came to a wide-ranging agreement that included Microsoft buying non-voting Apple stocks.Kawamoto, Dawn; Heskett, Ben; Ricciuti, Mike
MS to invest ,0 million in Apple
CNET News, news.cnet.com, August 6, 1997. Accessed July 22, 2012.
, FindLaw (via archive.org), corporate.findlaw.com, August 5, 1997. Accessed July 22, 2012.


''Xerox v. Apple Computer''

''Xerox Corp. v. Apple Computer'' was a 1989 case where Xerox sued Apple over its
graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
(GUI) copyrights.
Xerox Corp. v. Apple Computer, Inc.
', 734 F. Supp. 1542 (N.D. Cal. 1990). Accessed December 21, 2012.
A federal district court dismissed Xerox's claims without addressing whether Apple's GUI infringed Xerox's.Fisher, Lawrence

''The New York Times'', nytimes.com, December 15, 1989. Accessed 2012-12-21.
Pollack, Andrew

''The New York Times'', nytimes.com, March 24, 1990. Accessed 2012-12-21.


''OdioWorks v. Apple''

The ''OdioWorks'' case''OdioWOrks v. Apple'', case C-09-1818, U.S. Dist.Ct., N.D. Cal. 2009. was one of the first high-profile cases illustrating Apple's attempts to employ federal police power in its litigation practices by invoking the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as a means of shielding its intellectual property from
reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
.Von Lohmann, Fred
Unintended Consequences: Twelve Years under the DMCA
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
, eff.org, 2010-2. Accessed July 27, 2012.
In November 2008, Apple sent a cease-and-desist letter to BluWiki, a non-commercial
wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
provider,McNamara, Paul
Apple takes legal heel off throat of wiki operator
Network World, networkworld.com, July 22, 2009. Accessed 2012-7-27.
alleging BluWiki infringed Apple's copyrights in publishing a discussion of how to make the latest iPods interoperate with other software and that, by so doing, violated the DMCA.Apple Confuses Speech with a DMCA Violation
EFF, eff.org, November 25, 2008. Accessed 2012-7-27.
In April 2009, OdioWorks, the operators of BluWiki, backed by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
(EFF), defensively sued Apple seeking a declaration of non-infringement and non-circumvention.Wiki Operator Sues Apple Over Bogus Legal Threats
EFF, eff.org, April 27, 2009. Accessed 2012-7-27.
In July 2009, Apple ceased claiming infringement, stating it was "withdrawing pple'stakedown notifications" and that "Apple no longer has, nor will it have in the future, any objection to the publication of the itunesDB Pages which are the subject of the OdioWorks complaint".
Re: OdioWOrks v. Apple
', case C-09-1818, U.S. Dist.Ct., N.D. Cal., 2008-9-8, via eff.org. Accessed July 27, 2012.
After Apple withdrew its complaint and cited code obsolescence as a contributing factor in its decision to withdraw, BluWiki then republished its discussion of the issue.Clayburn, Thomas
Apple Drops Complaint Against BluWiki
''
Information Week ''InformationWeek'' is a digital magazine which conducts corresponding face-to-face events, virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1985 by CMP Media, later called Informa. The p ...
'', informationweek.com, July 22, 2009. Accessed 2012-7-22.
The EFF noted, "While we are glad that Apple retracted its baseless legal threats, we are disappointed that it only came after 7 months of censorship and a lawsuit".Apple Withdraws Threats Against Wiki Site
EFF, eff.org, July 22, 2009. Accessed 2012-7-27.


''Apple v. Corellium''

In 2019, Apple sued security start-up Corellium for creating the first virtual iPhone-simulating software. The product was created with the intent of helping users research security issues in iOS. Apple’s lawsuit argued that Corellium’s product would be dangerous in the wrong hands as it’d let hackers learn exploits easier, as well as claiming that Corellium was selling their product indiscriminately, even to potential competitors of Apple. The judge ruled in favor of Corellium in the case, concluding that the company used a thorough vetting process for clients and that the product was not intended to compete with Apple or diminish security of iOS. He also stated that Apple’s claim was “Puzzling, if not disingenuous.” The document prepared by Apple with the goal of using it in the company’s copyright lawsuit against Corellium, revealed that the cybersecurity startup offered or sold its tools to controversial government spyware and hacking-tool makers in
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and to a cybersecurity firm with potential ties to the Chinese government. The leaked documents also revealed that in 2019, Corellium offered a trial of its product to
NSO Group NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company's founders) is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance ...
, whose customers have for years been caught using its
Pegasus (spyware) Pegasus is spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that can be covertly installed on mobile phones (and other devices) running most versions of iOS and Android. Pegasus is able to exploit iOS versions up to 14.7, through ...
against dissidents, journalists, and human rights defenders.


Trade dress


GEM "look and feel" suit

Prevailing in an early
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
suit in the mid-1980s, Apple forced
Digital Research Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, DOS Plus, DR DOS and ...
to alter basic components in Digital Research's
Graphics Environment Manager GEM (for Graphics Environment Manager) is an operating environment released by Digital Research (DRI) in 1985 for use with the DOS operating system on Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microprocessors. GEM is known primarily as the graphical user ...
("GEM"), almost a direct copy of the Macintosh's graphical user interface (GUI), or "look and feel". Features Digital Research removed from GEM as a result of the lawsuit included
disk drive Disk storage (also sometimes called drive storage) is a general category of storage mechanisms where data is recorded by various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical changes to a surface layer of one or more rotating disks. A disk drive is ...
icons on the desktop, movable and resizable windows in the file manager, shading in the title bars, and window open/close animations. In addition, visual elements including the scrollbar thumbs and the window close button were changed to be less similar to those in the Mac GUI.


''Apple v. eMachines''

In 1999, Apple successfully sued
eMachines eMachines was a brand of economical personal computers. In 2004, it was acquired by Gateway, Inc., which was in turn acquired by Acer Inc. in 2007. The eMachines brand was discontinued in 2013. History eMachines was founded in September 1998 by ...
, whose
eOne Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...
too closely resembled the then-new iMac's
trade dress Trade dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers. Trade dress is an aspect of trademark law, which is a form of intelle ...
. The eOne was taken off the market, resulting in eMachines' losing the ability to sell the eOne as intended. In eMachines'
EDGAR Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
statement for May 1, 2001, eMachines stated that its "net loss for the first quarter of 2001 was $31.1 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to a loss of $11.9 million, or $0.13 per share, in the first quarter of 2000", and that these results "reflect the substantial discounts and incentives that we gave to retailers to enable liquidation of product inventories".


Patent


''Creative Technology v. Apple, Inc.'' (menu structure)

In a dispute illustrating the nature of claims, defenses, and counterclaims for
patent infringement Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...
based on arguments of
prior art Prior art (also known as state of the art or background art) is a concept in patent law used to determine the patentability of an invention, in particular whether an invention meets the novelty and the inventive step or non-obviousness criteria f ...
and
first to file First to file (FTF) and first to invent (FTI) are legal concepts that define who has the right to the grant of a patent for an invention. The first-to-file system is used in all countries. There is an important difference between the strict nat ...
, rival digital music player maker
Creative Technology Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the compa ...
sued Apple in May 2006 for Apple's alleged infringement of Creative's
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
patentCreative Technology LTD Original patent #US006928433
Automatic hierarchical categorization of music by metadata
USPTO, uspto.gov, filed January 5, 2001. Accessed July 27, 2012.
claiming Apple infringed Creative's patent for the menuing structures on an
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
player.''Creative Technology Ltd. v. Apple Computer Inc.'', case 4:06CY3218, U.S. Dist.Ct., N.D. Cal. May 15, 2006. Creative claimed it began using its menuing method on its Nomad players in September 2000, approximately a year prior to Apple's first iPod release in October 2001.Hesseldahl, Arik
Creative Technology Takes on Apple
''Businessweek'', businessweek.com, May 17, 2006. Accessed 2012-7-22.
Creative, a Singapore-based consumer electronics group, also filed a trade complaint with the
United States International Trade Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It is an independent, bipartisan entity that analyze ...
(ITC) against Apple.''Certain Portable Digital Media Players'', 71 Fed. Reg. 34,390, June 8, 2006 (notice); Apple filed an ITC countersuit for Creative's alleged infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,046,230, 5,341,293, 5,898,434, and 6,282,646: ''Notice of Investigation'', Inv.No. 337-TA-543, U.S. Int'l Trade Comm'n, June 21, 2005. See also: ''In the Matter of Certain Portable Digital Media Players'', Notice of Investigation, Inv. No. 337-TA-573, U.S. Int'l Trade Comm'n, 2006-6-8.Kawamoto, Dawn
ITC to investigate Apple, says Creative
CNET News, news.cnet.com, June 14, 2006. Accessed 2012-7-22.
Creative asked for a court
injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
to block the import and sale of Apple's iPod and
iPod nano The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, using ...
in the United States and for money damages for past sales. Apple filed a countersuit against Creative on similar grounds.Burton, John
Apple counter-sues Creative
Gadgets –
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
story from ''The Financial Times Ltd.'', May 19, 2006. Accessed 2012-7-27.
In August 2006, Apple and Creative settled the suit with Apple agreeing to pay Creative $100 million USD for the right to implement Creative's method of sorting songs on the iPod.Klemens, Ben
The Rise of the Information Processing Patent
, 14 Boston Univ. ''Jour. Science & Tech. Law'' 1, 2008. Accessed July 27, 2012.
Krazit, To

CNET News, news.cnet.com, September 23, 2006. Accessed 2012-7-27.
The settlement effectively ended the patent dispute and five other pending lawsuits between the two companies. Creative also secured an agreement to participate in the "Made for iPod" program by producing accessories for the iPod.


Typhoon Touch Technologies (touch screen)

In June 2008, Apple was named among others as a defendant in a suit brought by plaintiff Typhoon Touch Technologies in the federal
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to ...
alleging patent infringement in portable
touch screen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
technology.''Typhoon Touch Techs., Inc. v. Dell, Inc.'', case 6:07-cv-546, U.S. Dist.Ct., E.D.Tex. (Tyler Division), filed October 23, 2008. Plaintiff's complaint identified the patents as U.S. Patent No. 5,379,057: "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same," and U.S. Patent No. 5,675,362: "Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computing System Employing Same". The suit illustrated the vagaries of litigating patent licensing and
royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...
collection issues in the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights. Ultimately, Typhoon could not prevail against patent defense arguments of prior art and obviousness and earned itself a reputation as a
patent troll In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...
.Shrestha, Sannu
Trolls Or Market-Makers? An Empirical Analysis Of Nonpracticing Entities
, ''Columbia Law Review'', columbialawreview.org, Vol. 110, p. 114, 2010, Appendix B.1., November 22, 2009. Accessed 2012-7-27.
Typhoon acquired two pre-existing patents, (filed in 1993 and 1994 and issued in 1995 and 1997), in mid-2007 for $350,000 plus a percentage of collected licensing fees.Harris, Larry
Red Flags at Typhoon Touch Technologies
Seeking Alpha, seekingalpha.com. July 9, 2008. Accessed July 27, 2012.
The patents had languished for some time and were not being policed; shortly after Typhoon acquired the patents, it began enforcement by bringing suit against exploiters of the technology who had not paid licensing fees. Typhoon was successful in its patent infringement suits against some small companies, and then expanded its litigation to go after larger ones. Typhoon alleged that Apple and others used its patented technology inventions without permission. Typhoon originally filed the suit in December 2007 against
Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
after settling with some smaller companies but, in mid-2008, amended its complaint to add Apple,
Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...
,
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
,
Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...
,
Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
,
HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
,
Palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...
,
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
, and LG. In 2010, Apple settled with Typhoon for an undisclosed sum and was then dismissed from the litigation as of September 2010. The other large companies were able to rebuff Typhoon's claims, and Typhoon ceased doing business in 2008 after the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
(SEC) suspended its trading in a fraud investigation.Securities registration termination [Section 12(g)] Acc-no: 0001221508-08-000051 (34 Act)
15-12G filing of fir
000-52130 081032074
SEC records of Typhoon Touch Technologies, SEC, sec.gov, August 21, 2008. Accessed 2012-7-27.


''Nokia v. Apple'' (wireless, iPhone)

In October 2009, Nokia Corporation sued Apple for Apple's infringement of Nokia's patents relating to wireless technology;Nokia suing Apple over the iPhone
BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk, October 22, 2009; article now a
Apple and Nokia's battle hots up
BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk, 2009-12-11. Accessed 2012-3-26.
Apple countersued Nokia in December 2009.Nokia and Apple settle patent dispute
BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk, December 11, 2009. Accessed 2012-3-26.
The two companies engaged in nearly two-years of litigation and both parties amended their claims multiple times and in multiple courts before finally settling in June 2011. For an undisclosed amount of cash and future ongoing iPhone royalties to be paid by Apple, Nokia agreed to settle, with Apple's royalty payments retroactively back-payable to the iPhone's introduction in 2007, but with no broad cross-licensing agreement made between the companies. Apple only agreed to cross-license some patents to Nokia. "Apple said in a statement today that Nokia will have a license to some technology, "but not the majority of the innovations that make the iPhone unique". Apple gets a license to some of Nokia's patents, including ones that were deemed essential to industry standards on mobile phones.ben-Aaron, Diana and Pohjanpalo, Kati

Bloomberg News, bloomberg.com, June 14, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.


''Apple v. HTC''

Apple filed a patent infringement suit against High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) in March 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware
Apple v. HTC
', C.A. Nos. 10-166-GMS, 10-167-GMS, U.S. Dist. Ct., D. Del., January 14, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.
in the two companies' ongoing battle with each other,Cheng, Roger
HTC sues Apple, again
CNET News, news.cnet.com, August 16, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.
and a complaint against HTC under Section 337 of the
Tariff Act of 1930 A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
with the
U.S. International Trade Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislature, legislative and executive (government), executive branches on matters of trade. It is an indepe ...
(ITC) in Washington, D.C.Apple's ITC complaint against HTC, 75 Fed. Reg. 17434, April 6, 2010.Patel, Nilay
Apple vs HTC: a patent breakdown
Engaget, engadget.com, March 2, 2010. Accessed July 27, 2012.
Apple's suit alleged 20 separate patent infringements relating to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.Bilton, Nick
What Apple vs. HTC Could Mean
Bits, ''The New York Times'', bits.blogs.nytimes.com, March 2, 2010. Accessed July 27, 2012.
Steve Jobs exclaimed "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it ... ethink competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours".Foresman, Chris
Apple vs HTC: proxy fight over Android could last years
Ars Technica, arstechnica.com, March 4, 2010. Accessed July 22, 2012.
The ITC rejected all but one of Apple's claims, however, ruling for Apple on a single claim relating to data tapping.ITC, ''In The Matter of Certain Personal Data and Mobile Communications Devices and Related Software'', Notice of the Commission's Final Determination Finding a Violation Of Section 337
Issuance of a Limited Exclusion Order, Termination of Investigation No. 337-Ta-710
, usitc.gov, December 19, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27. See als
Apple's patent No. 5,946,647
at google.com. Accessed 2012-7-27.
McCullagh, Declan
Apple wins patent victory over HTC, which faces looming import ban
CNET News, news.cnet.com, December 19, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-22.
HTC motioned the Delaware court for a
change of venue A change of venue is the legal term for moving a trial to a new location. In high-profile matters, a change of venue may occur to move a jury trial away from a location where a fair and impartial jury may not be possible due to widespread public ...
to the Northern District of California, arguing against Apple's desire to consolidate the case with the similar cases brought by Nokia against Apple,''Nokia Corporation v. Apple Inc.'', case 09-791 and ''Nokia Corporation v. Apple Inc.'', case 09-1002, both U.S. Dist.Ct., ND Cal. 2011. alleging insubstantial overlap between those cases and Apple's complaint, but Judge Gregory M. Sleet denied HTC's motion for a venue change, ruling that Apple's choice of forum would prevail. HTC countersued Apple in September 2011 in the same court claiming infringement of four patents HTC obtained from
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,Milford, Phil and Decker, Susan
HTC Sues Apple Using Google Patents Bought Last Week as Battle Escalates
Bloomberg News, bloomberg.com, September 7, 2011. Accessed July 27, 2012.
also filing a counter-complaint with the ITC, with HTC's general counsel saying "HTC will continue to protect its patented inventions against infringement from Apple until such infringement stops."Cheng, Roger
HTC sues Apple using Google patents, report says
CNET News, news.cnet.com, September 7, 2011. Accessed July 27, 2012.
In May 2012 the Delaware court ordered mediation between the companies. In November 2012, HTC and Apple ended the patent dispute by settling the case, but did not disclose the terms of the settlement. The companies reported the settlement included a 10-year agreement for licensing both companies' current and future patents to each other."Mullin, Joe
Apple and HTC reach a sudden patent peace, but at what cost?
ArsTechnica, arstechnica.com, November 11, 2012. Accessed 2012-12-21.


''Kodak v. Apple'' (digital imaging)

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
sued Apple and
Research In Motion BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it was originally known as Research In Motion (RIM). As RIM, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartphones, and tablets ...
(RIM) in January 2010, filing two lawsuits against Apple and a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against both Apple and RIM after the companies refused to pay royalties for use of Kodak's patents for digital cameras. Kodak alleged Apple's and RIM's phones infringed on patented Kodak
digital imaging Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of a digital representation of the visual characteristics of an object, such as a physical scene or the interior structure of an object. The term is often assumed to imply or include ...
technology. Kodak sought an injunction against further imports into the United States of Apple's iPhone and RIM's
BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...
. After Kodak filed an additional suit in January 2012 against Apple and another against HTC claiming infringement of four of its key patents, Apple filed a countersuit with the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...
to block Kodak's efforts to use the disputed patents as collateral for loans. In the January complaint Kodak claimed violations of the same image preview technology at issue in the original dispute between Kodak, Apple, and RIM that is, as of 2012, pending before ITC. In March 2012,
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
court judge Allen Gropper, overseeing Kodak's restructuring, denied Apple's request to file a patent complaint with the ITC over some of Kodak's cameras, photo frames, and printers. In July 2012, the
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...
ruled that Kodak did not infringe on Apple's patent technology for digital cameras, although a few days earlier Kodak lost its case before the ITC against Apple and RIM; Kodak announced it would appeal that decision.


''Motorola Mobility v. Apple''

In the year before Apple and Samsung began suing each other on most continents, and while Apple and HTC were already embroiled in a patent fight,
Motorola Mobility Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android OS, Android. It is a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational technology company ...
and Apple started a period of intense patent litigation. The Motorola-Apple patent imbroglio commenced with claims and cross-claims between the companies for patent infringement and encompassed multiple forums in multiple countries as each party sought friendly venues for litigating its respective claims; the fight also included
administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...
rulings as well as ITC and
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
involvement. As of April 2012, the controversy centered on whether a
FRAND Reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms, also known as fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, denote a voluntary licensing commitment that standards organizations often request from the owner of an intellectual property r ...
license to a components manufacturer carries over to an equipment manufacturer incorporating the component into equipment, an issue not addressed in the U.S. Supreme Court's default
exhaustion doctrine The exhaustion of intellectual property rights constitutes one of the limits of intellectual property (IP) rights. Once a given product has been sold under the authorization of the IP owner, the reselling, rental, lending and other third party comme ...
in '' Quanta v. LG Electronics''.Stern, Richard
Standardization Skullduggery Never Ends: Apple v. Motorola
, IEEE Micro, ipv6.ppk.itb.ac.id, 2012-3/4, B2-9mmi2012020003.3d 10/3/012 16:48 p. 3. Accessed 2012-4-13. Stern cites
Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc.
', 128 S. Ct. 2109, 2008; accessed 2012-4-13. The ''Quanta'' case cited the 150-year-old doctrine of patent exhaustion which limits patent rights that survive the initial authorized sale of a patented item.
In June 2012, appellate Judge
Richard Posner Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American jurist and legal scholar who served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chica ...
ordered dismissal of the case
with prejudice Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, "prejudice" differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical meanings. ...
and Apple announced its intention to appeal a month later.


VirnetX patent infringement lawsuits

Since 2010, at least three different cases have been filed against Apple by
VirnetX VirnetX () is a publicly traded Internet security software and technology company based in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. VirnetX has been described as being a patent troll, accused of marketing no actual products or services and instead earning its reven ...
related to patent infringement on at least thirteen of their patents in Apple's
FaceTime FaceTime is a Proprietary software, proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS devic ...
and VPN On Demand technology in the iOS system. The first case, involving four of VirnetX's patents, was found in favor of VirnetX, and while Apple was able to content one of the patents with the Patent Office, the other three stood up to scrutiny. Apple further appealed up to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court refused to hear the case in February 2020, leaving in place a verdict against it. Other cases cover redesigns versions of FaceTime that VirnetX claim still violate their patents.


''Apple v. Samsung'': Android phones and tablets

''Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.'' was the first of many lawsuits between Apple and Samsung. In the spring of 2011, Apple sued Samsung while already fully engaged in a
patent war A patent war is a "battle" between corporations or individuals to secure patents for litigation, whether offensively or defensively. There are ongoing patent wars between the world's largest technology and software corporations. Contemporary pat ...
with Motorola. Apple's multinational litigation over technology patents became known as the
Smartphone patent wars The smartphone wars or smartphone patents licensing and litigation refers to commercial struggles among smartphone manufacturers including Sony Mobile, Google, Apple Inc., Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Huawei, LG Electronics, ZTE and HTC, b ...
: Extensive litigation followed fierce competition in the global market for consumer mobile communications. By August 2011, Apple and Samsung were engaged in 19 ongoing lawsuits in 12 courts in nine countries on four continents; by October, the fight expanded to 10 countries,Albanesius, Chloe
Every Place Samsung and Apple Are Suing Each Other
''
PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...
'', pcmag.com, September 14, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.
Australian court to fast-track Samsung appeal on tablet ban
, Reuters, reuters.com, October 27, 2011. Accessed 2012-7-27.
and by July 2012, the two companies were embroiled in more than 50 lawsuits around the globe with billions of dollars in damages claimed between them. As of August 2013, the ultimate cost of these patent wars to consumers, shareholders, and investors is not known.Hintjens, Pieter
Patents Considered Evil: The Rational for Patents
, IPocracy, ipocracy.org, 2011-9. Accessed July 27, 2012.
Mohan, Ravi
Analysis Of The Entire Market Value Rule In Complex Technology Litigation: Arduous Royalty Base Determinations, Unjust Damage Rewards, And Empirical Approaches To Measuring Consumer Demand
, Santa Clara ''Computer & High Technology Law Journal'', chtlj.org, vol. 27, 2011-4, pp. 637–671 at 639. Accessed July 27, 2012. See also * Mack, Eric

PCWorld, pcworld.com, November 6, 2011. Accessed 2012-8-3. * Masnick, Mike
Just Because Companies Can Design Around Patents Doesn't Mean There's No Impact For Consumers
Techdirt Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and cop ...
, techdirt.com, 2012-3-20. Accessed 2012-7-27; and * Allison, John, Lemley, Mark, Moore, Kimberly, and Trunkey, R. Derek, Valuable Patents, ''Geo. Law Journal'', v. 92, pp. 435, 441, 2004, in which the authors noted "Total direct litigation costs for the median patent case with between $1 million and $25 million at stake were $2 million per side in 2003."
A U.S. jury trial was held on July 30, 2012, with Apple prevailing and Samsung ordered to pay more than $1 billion in damages,
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
'', case 11-CV-01846-LHK, 768 F. Supp. 2d 1040, U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D.Cal. 2011-4. Accessed July 25, 2012.

''The Huffington Post'', huffingtonpost.com, August 24, 2012. Accessed 2012-12-21.
after which Samsung stated: "This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims."
''Reuters'' via ''The Huffington Post'', huffingtonpost.com, August 24, 2012. Accessed 2012-12-21.
Judge Lucy H. Koh later decided that the jury had miscalculated $450 million in its initial damage assessment and ordered a retrial that commenced in November 2013. Following a week-long trial, also overseen by Judge Koh, Samsung was ordered to pay $600 million to Apple for the 2012 lawsuit. On August 9, 2013, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) announced its decision regarding an Apple-initiated case, whereby Samsung is accused of infringing four Apple patents related to user interfaces and headphone input functionality. The USITC sided with Apple in what was described in the media as a "mixed ruling" and stated that some of Samsung's older devices infringe on two of Apple's patents—one covering touch-screen technology and another regarding headphone jacks; however, no violations were identified in four other patents. The final determination of the ITC was signed by Lisa Barton, Acting Secretary to the Commission. In a damage-only retrial court session on November 13, 2013, as ordered by Judge Koh in December 2012, a Samsung Electronics representative stated in a San Jose, U.S. courtroom that Apple's hometown jury found that the company copied some features of both the iPhone and iPad. Samsung's attorney clarified the purpose of the damage-only retrial and stated the result of the first trial, "This is a case not where we're disputing that the 13 phones contain some elements of Apple's property," but the company has disputed the $379.8 million amount that Apple claimed — Samsung presented a figure of $52 million. The San Jose jury eventually awarded Apple $290 million in damages after jurors completed a one-page assessment form for each infringed patent. The six-woman, two-man jury reached its decision after a three-day period. In the first week of January 2014, a filing with the U.S. District court in San Jose showed that legal executives from both parties agreed to meet prior to February 19, 2014, to engage in settlement discussions. Both Samsung and Apple were responding to a court order that instructed the completion of such a meeting before a new trial begins in March 2014. One of three Samsung chiefs met with Cook, but the filing did not reveal the name of the representative. A new trial is scheduled for March 2014, in which Apple will seek to prevent Samsung from selling some of its current devices in the U.S. The case will involve further debate over monetary compensation. In the 2014 lawsuit, Samsung is accused of infringing five of Apple Inc.'s patents in 10 phone and tablet models, while Samsung has responded with a counterclaim, in which it states that two patents for nine phones and tablets have been infringed on by Apple. Jury selection for the trial occurred on March 31, 2014. Samsung stands to gain $6 million if the jury rules in its favor, while Apple is seeking $2 billion in damages and could proceed with similar lawsuits against other Android handset makers, as the relevant patent issues extend beyond Samsung's software technology.


''Corephotonics v. Apple''

On 6 November 2017,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i start-up Corephotonics sued Apple. They claimed that the technology behind the dual-camera systems in Apple's
iPhone 7 Plus The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are smartphones that were designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the tenth generation of the iPhone. They were announced on September 7, 2016, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Fran ...
and 8 Plus infringed four patents owned by them (Corephotonics). Corephotonics said that they approached Apple over a possible partnership, but Apple's lead negotiator apparently declined the idea, with Apple going ahead and launching the iPhone 7 Plus in late 2016, and then the 8 Plus in late 2017. The patents claimed by Corephotonics to be infringed are: two patents on mini telephoto lens assembly, one patent on dual aperture zoom digital cameras, and one on high resolution thin multi-aperture imaging systems. Corephotonics also blamed Apple's consumers (who bought the 7 Plus or 8 Plus) to be infringing the patents, as they claim that Apple sells the products with "knowledge of or willful blindness", which the consumers buy. The lawsuit demands monetary compensation for the lawyers the start-up had to hire, as well as for damages. They are also asking Apple to immediately stop producing dual-lens cameras systems. The
iPhone X The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten", also known as iPhone 10) is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from October 27, 2017, it was re ...
is not included in the lawsuit, despite having a dual-lens camera.


Licensing


Norwegian Consumer Council

In June 2006, the Consumer
Ombudsmen An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
challenged Apple's iTunes
end user license agreement An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...
(EULA) through the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon, who claimed that Apple was violating contract and copyright laws in their countries. Thon stated that Apple's "being an international company does not entitle t/nowiki> to disregard the laws of the countries in which it operates. The company's standard customer contract violates Norwegian law".iTunes violates Norwegian law
, Forbrukerombudet Norway, forbrukerombudet.no, June 7, 2006. Accessed July 22, 2012.
An official complaint was filed by the
Norwegian Consumer Council The Consumer Council of Norway (Norwegian: ''Forbrukerrådet'') is a Norwegian government agency and consumer protection organisation established in 1953. It works to increase consumer influence in society, to contribute to consumer-friendly develo ...
in January 2006, after which German and French consumer groups joined the Nordic-led drive to force Apple to make its iTunes online store compatible with digital music players made by rival companies., CNN, January 23, 2007. Accessed 2012-7-27. A French law allows regulators to force Apple to make its player and store compatible with rival offerings. The consumer protection regulators of Norway, Sweden, and Finland met with Apple in September 2006 in hopes of resolving the issues without litigation, but the matter was only resolved after Apple discontinued its
FairPlay FairPlay is a digital rights management (DRM) technology developed by Apple Inc. It is built into the MPEG-4 Part 14, MP4 multimedia file format as an encrypted Advanced Audio Coding, AAC audio layer, and was used until April 2009 by the company ...
digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
(DRM) scheme.


Office of Fair Trading investigation

In 2008, the UK
National Consumer Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
(NCC, now Consumer Focus) called on the UK's
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
(OFT) to investigate Apple's EULA, claiming Apple's EULA, and those of multiple other technology companies, misled consumers and infringed legal rights. The NCC's product complaint included Apple's iLife as well as Microsoft's Office for Mac, and products by
Corel Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo (pronounced like "all you do"), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviation ...
,
Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
, Symantec,
Kaspersky Kaspersky Lab (; Russian: Лаборатория Касперского, tr. ''Laboratoriya Kasperskogo'') is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in th ...
,
McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...
, and others. The OFT determined the licensing agreements were unfair and Apple agreed to improve its terms and conditions to make them clearer and fairer to consumers.


''Apple Inc. v. Psystar Corporation''

In July 2008, Apple Inc. filed suit against Psystar Corporation
Apple Inc. v. Psystar Corporation
', 673 F. Supp. 2d 943, U.S. Dist.Ct., N.D. Cal. 2009. Accessed July 27, 2012.
alleging Psystar sold
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
-based systems with
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
pre-installed and that, in so doing, violated Apple's copyright and trademark rights and the
software licensing A software license is a legal instrument (usually by way of contract law, with or without printed material) governing the use or redistribution of software. Under United States copyright law, all software is copyright protected, in both source c ...
terms of Apple's
shrink wrap license Shrinkwrap contracts or shrinkwrap licenses are boilerplate contracts packaged with products; usage of the product is deemed acceptance of the contract. Web-wrap, click-wrap and browse-wrap are related terms which refer to license agreements in ...
. That
license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
restricted the use of Mac OS X to Apple computers, and specifically prohibited customers from installing the operating system on non-Apple computers.The case brought the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking facets of the
DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...
into this licensing dispute, with Apple ultimately prevailing and awarded permanent injunctive relief, and the decision affirmed on appeal in 2011.
Apple Inc. v. Psystar Corporation
', case 10-15113, U.S. Ct.App., 9th Cir. 2011. Accessed July 27, 2012.
Psystar's appeal asserted copyright misuse as a defense by arguing that Apple's license agreement was an unlawful attempt to extend copyright protection to products that are not copyrightable. The appeals court ruled that Psystar failed to demonstrate "copyright misuse" by Apple because Psystar must show either that the license agreement restricts creativity or that it restricts competition, and that Apple's
license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
agreement does neither.


Corporate espionage and data theft


QuickTime code theft litigation

In 1995, Apple added Microsoft and Intel to an existing lawsuit against the
San Francisco Canyon Company San Francisco Canyon Company was a software development company that was contracted by Apple Computer in 1992 to port the QuickTime technology to Microsoft Windows. They made their first release of ''QuickTime for Windows'' in November 1992. In Ju ...
, alleging that Microsoft and Intel knowingly used the software company to aid them in stealing several thousand lines of Apple's
QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
code in an effort to improve the performance of
Video for Windows Video for Windows was a suite of video playing and editing software introduced by Microsoft in 1992. A runtime version for viewing videos only was made available as a free add-on to Windows 3.1, which then became an integral component of Windows 9 ...
. After a threat to withdraw support for the Macintosh edition of Microsoft Office the suit was settled in 1997, along with all lingering issues from the '' Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation'' "look & feel" suit. Apple agreed to make
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Microsoft Wind ...
the default browser over
Netscape Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was onc ...
, while Microsoft agreed to continue developing Office and other software for the Mac for the next five years and to purchase $150 million of non-voting Apple stock.


FBI demand to unlock iPhone

In February 2016, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
, as part of its investigation into the 2015 San Bernardino attack, obtained a court order that demanded that Apple create a version of its operating system that would allow the FBI to circumvent security controls, so that it could inspect the contents of an iPhone used by one of the terrorists involved in the attack. Apple claimed the order "would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect" and appealed. On March 28, 2016, the DOJ reported that it had retrieved the data from the attacker's iPhone through an alternative method without Apple's assistance, ending the legal proceedings.


See also

*
Antennagate The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the 4S. Following a number of notable leaks, the iPhone 4 was first unvei ...
* Batterygate


References


External links


Apple Legal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apple Inc. Litigation Lawsuits * Class action lawsuits Conflict of laws case law Defamation case law Intellectual property case law Patent case law United States case law lists United States administrative case law United States antitrust case law United States computer case law United States contract case law United States copyright case law United States defamation case law United States Internet case law United States patent case law United States trademark case law United States district court cases