Screws are being tightened on Apple by the dayLets not forget the legal action taken by WiLan last month to the dirty pool Apple is playing. Apple is exposing themselves to much more than a infringement judgement and a court-ordered settlement but also Damages for Wilfull Infringement! A HUGE payday is fast approaching for WiLan and their shareholders. Its just a matter of time IMHO. Hang in there everybody.
Here is the relevant excerpt from last month's news article:
' ...WiLAN requested a meeting with Apple to resolve this matter and WiLAN provided significant details concerning the relevance of the five 4G patents asserted herein to Apple's 4G LTE mobile devices. Three days later, on June 19, 2014, rather than provide dates for a meeting, Apple initiated litigation against WiLAN in the Northern District of California involving the five 4G patents asserted in this action in a clear attempt at gamesmanship to remove this matter from this Court, which is presently handling a related dispute between the parties involving overlapping 4G patents and technologies and the same Apple 4G LTE products. Apple's actions have forced WiLAN's hand, leaving it with no choice but to protect its intellectual property through litigation. Apple's Products Apple directly or indirectly through subsidiaries or affiliated companies markets, distributes, manufactures, imports, sells, and/or offers for sale wireless communication products, such as products compliant with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project ("3GPP") 4G LTE standard, including but not limited to the iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPad (3rd Generation), iPad with Retina display (Wi- Fi + 4G Cellular), iPad mini (Wi-Fi + 4G Cellular), iPad mini with Retina display (Wi-Fi + 4G Cellular), and the iPad Air (Wi-Fi +4G Cellular), in the United States and in this district. Apple's products support at least Release 8, et seq. of the 4G LTE standard. Upon information and belief, Apple's products also include software and associated hardware that prioritize the transmission of data generated by various applications that run on these Apple products, and in doing such prioritization utilize the claimed inventions of the patents asserted in this action.
Patent Infringement
WiLAN alleges that Apple has infringed upon five of their patents which include the following: 1.8,457,145 entitled "Method and apparatus for bandwidth request/grant protocols in a wireless communication system." 2.8,462,723 entitled "Methods and systems for transmission of multiple modulated signals over wireless networks." 3.8,537,757 entitled "Method and system for adaptively obtaining bandwidth allocation requests." 4.8,615,020 entitled "Method and System for Adaptively Obtaining Bandwidth Allocation Requests" 5.8,462,761 entitled "Method and system for adaptively obtaining bandwidth allocation requests."
Wilful Infringement
WiLAN notes in their formal complaint before the court that the allegations of all foregoing paragraphs are re-alleged as fully set forth herein. Before initiating litigation, WiLAN made substantial efforts to license Apple's use of WiLAN's advanced 4G technologies and patents used in Apple's 4G LTE mobile devices, expecting that Apple would proceed in good faith. On June 16, 2014, WiLAN expressly provided notice to Apple that it infringes the five 4G patents-in-suit. WiLAN provided detailed information concerning the pioneering nature of Ken Stanwood's inventions that are claimed in the patents-in-suit, and explained that these fundamental inventions, which are implemented in products compliant with the 4G LTE standard, enable advanced features of Apple's 4G LTE mobile products. On June 17, 2014, Apple responded to WiLAN's notice communication, admitting that it had not studied the patents-in-suit. Two days later, instead of following through on its commitment to meet in order to negotiate a license, Apple filed suit against WiLAN. Given that the inventions claimed in the five 4G patents-in-suit are fundamental to implementation of products compliant with the 4G LTE standard, an objectively defined risk exists that Apple infringes the patents-in-suit. Furthermore, upon information and belief, prior to initiating suit against WiLAN, Apple did not conduct a reasonable investigation to ascertain whether it infringes the patents-in-suit. Apple's infringement of the patents-in-suit thus occurs with knowledge of and/or objective recklessness and has been and continues to be willful and deliberate. Apple's willful and deliberate infringement entitles WiLAN to enhanced damages. The patent infringement case presented in today's report was filed in the California Southern District Court, San Diego Office. The Presiding Judge in this case is noted as being Judge Janis L. Sammartino.