Minverva Industries files lawsuit against Apple
A lawsuit from California-based Minverva Industries has to be one of the most stupid yet. What appears to have happened is that the tiny company successfully patented a "Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device" — patent number 7,321,783 — this week, and has now set upon suing Apple and a host of other companies for copyright infringement.
Apparently, Minerva has "suffered monetary damages in an amount not yet determined". Possibly that's because there aren't any — or at least, there weren't until they set upon almost 30 companies that have supposedly been using their trademarks.
Minvera Industries has filed lawsuits against AtlanticRT, AT&T Mobility, Cricket Communications, LG, Palm, Motorola, Nokia, Alltel, Dobson Cellular, Helio, HP, MetroPCS Wireless, Research in Motion, Sprint Spectrum, Nextel, T-Mobile USA, Tracfone Wireless, Cellco Partnership, Virgin Mobile, HTC, Kyocera Wireless, Pantech Wireless, Sanyo, Sony Ericsson, Samsung.
Apparently, their Thuraya SG-2520 phone is being infringed, somehow, though it looks nothing like an iPhone and, on the product page I've viewed, doesn't even mention the dubious phrase "Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device".
I'm confused. Is this just an excuse for a small company to try and make money and cause annoyance to large companies, or has there been genuine patent violation here?
(Via The Inquirer)
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