Corephotonics, an Israeli based camera technology firm, came back at Apple with yet another lawsuit following the two lawsuits filed in 2017 and 2018. According to Corephotonics, Apple has knowingly employed patented dual-camera technology in its iPhones and is now trying to cover up its tracks via similar intellectual property filings.
What happened?
Here is the whole story, as filed by the Israeli based Corephotonics. The company was in talks with the Cupertino since 2012. Throughout the years, Corephotonics was discussing Dual-camera modules with Apple’s engineering team. As a result, the Cupertino was granted access to a range of technologies including, five-element telephoto lens back, test boards and lenses and a black box simulation files for lens designs along with software simulator and system prototypes. Since Graham Townsend, then Senior Director of Camera Hardware at Apple, and one of the founding members of the Corephotonics were previously colleagues and friends, giving access to camera technologies did not bring second thoughts.
Anyhow, in May 2012, as Apple signaled interest in Corephotonics’ dual-aperture solution, a team of engineers including Townsend visited Corephotonics’ headquarters where they were presented with the design layout for a five-element telephoto lens, technology Apple had yet to deploy in an iPhone. According to the filing, Townsend left with a pen drive which contained presentation materials, pending patent applications and patent plans. Following this, another team was sent to discuss the employment of technology in detail. At this point, the teams were presented with simulations and technical demonstrations.
Fast forward to 2014, Apple, according to the filing, attempted to secretly procure samples of a prototype telephoto lens module from the firm’s manufacturing contractor. When Corephotonics was informed, the company violated its own rules and regulations, as a goodwill gesture, provided Apple with the parts including black-box simulation files for lens designs, a software simulator and access to system prototypes. After this, communications between the two were halted till 2016, when a month later the Cupertino released iPhone 7 plus, first of its smartphones to feature a dual-array camera.
Following some unfruitful negotiations, Corephotonics filed its first infringement lawsuit in November 2017 and the second lawsuit in April 2018 targeting the iPhone X.
The most recent lawsuit:
Recently, Corephotonics lodged a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claiming infringement of 10 separate patents including dual-camera systems in handheld devices and technology related to the advanced imaging hardware. The accused products are iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max.
The claims include IP U.S. Patent Numbers: 9,661,233, 10,230,898, 10,288,840, 10,317,647, 10,324,277, 10,330,897, 10,225,479, 10,015,408, 10,356,332 and 10,326,942.
Corephotonics says Apple was well aware of the firm’s patents and associated technologies hence, the Israeli company seeks damages, a permanent injunction against further sales and court fees in its current case.
An interesting fact about Corephotonics is that it was unofficially acquired by Samsung in January for $150 million, although none of the two have issued any official words.
Featured Image via Washington Post.
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