Sorry folks, Dan apparently jumped the gun — there’s one more gavelicious story in the works.
Just when you thought that it was safe to be on Apple’s legal team, what with the dismissal of the backdating case and all, yet another company gets all fiesty and wants a piece.
This time, it’s a company called Autotext Technologies that claims to have invented predictive typing. Somehow Autotext missed the fact that since their 1994 patent, that pretty much every tech company ever uses predictive typing in some form or another. Apparently Autotext just became aware of this, as it’s taking Apple, Nintendo, Sony, Nuance, Verizon and others to court.
We’re guessing that this case gets dismissed right quick, given that according to BetaNews:
Autotext is a subsidiary of Acacia Research, a company in the business of acquiring, developing, licensing and enforcing patents who was recently charged with engaging in frivolous litigation. In August, the company’s Micromesh Technology Corp. v. American Recreational Products was deemed a “frivolous infringement investigation” by a Northern California Judge.
For what it's worth, it's not uncommon for a company to fail to act with respect to its patent protection on a product until after it gains widespread market adoption. Unlike trademarks, the holder of a patent need not "protect" the patent in order for it to retain its validity. One of the most well-known examples is the intermittent windshield wiper. That was patented long before it was used in cars, and, after it was adopted by the market, the owner of the patent said, in effect, "pay up or stop using what everyone has come to expect as a feature of the car."