After Samsung’s patent case, Apple hits again as the Trustees of Boston University files an infringement lawsuit against the iPad maker.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on Tuesday accusing Apple for using a component designed by Theodore D Moustakas, a professor from Boston University, in which he received the patent in Nov. 1997. The component is a semiconductor that can be used to create affordable and compact solid-state blue lasers. Apple is not the first company sued by the university over this patent. Samsung, Amazon, and other companies are on the same boat.
The patent was said to be found on the LED displays of Apple’s products specifically the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Air. The university would like to have Apple present to them the profits earned by the company by selling these products and would like to receive a proportion of those to compensate for the damages it had caused the university. They wrote on the complaint that “[Apple's] acts of infringement have caused and will continue to cause substantial and irreparable damage to the University." The Boston Herald wrote that the university expects to get $75 million as settlement.
Aside from receiving money from the iPad maker, they would also want Apple to stop selling their products using the component.
Boston University clarified that they are not using the patent to be bought by Apple. Buying off academic patents is very common as well as paying off the licensing fee in infringement cases like this. In 2006, the university had a lawsuit filed for the same patent against a different company but was able to settle it with the company paying for the licensing fee.
Click here to read the complaint filed by the university to the court.
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