Immersion Files Second Haptic Feedback Lawsuit Against Apple

Thursday May 5, 2016 5:07 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Immersion, a company that develops and licenses haptic touch feedback technology, today filed a second lawsuit against Apple and AT&T, accusing the MacBook and MacBook Pro of violating one patent and the iPhone 6s of violating three additional patents not mentioned in the original lawsuit.

immersion
According to Immersion, iPhone 6s and MacBook features like 3D Touch and the Force Touch trackpad infringe on its intellectual property. The four patents included in today's lawsuit are as follows:

- U.S. Patent No. 8,749,507: "Systems and Methods for Adaptive Interpretation of Input from a Touch-Sensitive Input Device"

- U.S. Patent No. 7,808,488: "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations"

- U.S. Patent No. 8,581,710: "Systems and Methods for Haptic Confirmation of Commands"

- U.S. Patent No. 7,336,260: "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations"

The fourth patent is the one that Immersion accuses the MacBook, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro of violating, and AT&T, while named in the iPhone 6s claim, is not named in the MacBook infringement claim. According to Immersion, the Force Touch trackpad built into these products uses haptic feedback technology belonging to Immersion.

Apple's Force Touch trackpad utilizes haptic feedback to mimic the feeling of pressing on a physical button. The trackpad is able to distinguish between a light press and a harder press, with the pressure-sensitivity used to enable different gestures.

In the original lawsuit filed in February of 2016, Immersion accused Apple and AT&T of infringing on three patents with the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport, and Apple Watch Edition. Immersion has added AT&T to the lawsuit because AT&T sells Apple products and offers guides, directions, and other materials that "encourage and facilitate infringing use by others."

Immersion's patent lawsuit, in which the company requests a jury trial and seeks compensatory damages, is accompanied by a second complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking an inclusion order to prevent the sale of the accused Apple devices in the United States.

Tags: lawsuit, patent, Immersion
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goobot
48 months ago
Lmao for the reason including att.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Brad9893
48 months ago
Why are they suing AT&T? Every other major carrier in the US also sells the iPhone 6s. They should also be suing Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint with that logic! And hey, why not Best Buy and other retailers too while they are at it? It makes no sense to me, unless they are just trying for a money grab.
Rating: 11 Votes
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Stella
48 months ago

A quick scan of their website reveals.....well very little....who buys their products?

This company have been around for years. Logitech used their technology back in the 1990s for a range of mice.

In late 2000s, Nokia licensed their technology for their phones.

Since the company is still alive, we can assume they've got customers today...

They certainly are not patent trolls... their technology is being actively used.
Rating: 11 Votes
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apolloa
48 months ago
Good for you Immersion, go get em.

I do believe that Immersion INVENTED/ INNOVATED/ DEVELOPED/ BROUGHT TO MARKET the technologies it is suing for.

Here is the previous story highlighting how they actually make their stuff, they are NOT patent trolls as the Apple apologists will have you believe:

https://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/11/immersion-haptic-feedback-apple-lawsuit/

If companies want to use others technologies they need to pay to do so.
Rating: 11 Votes
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Windlasher
48 months ago

Why are they just including AT&T? Every other major carrier in the US also sells the iPhone 6s.


I would guess that the reason is that the more lawsuits you have open at once, the more likely it is that you will lose one of them and set precedent that might cause you to lose the others.

Also Lawsuits are expensive especially against someone like Apple.

I can't wait for patent reform so these jerks will actually have to work for a living.
Rating: 9 Votes
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sw1tcher
48 months ago

A quick scan of their website reveals.....well very little....who buys their products?


Since their technologies are found in products from Logitech, Microsoft, Sony, Motorola, Google, Samsung, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Facebook (via Oculus Rift), medical device manufacturers, etc., I'd say hundreds of millions of people have bought and continue to buy their products.
Rating: 9 Votes
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kdarling
48 months ago

Also, Immersion is suing Apple over the iPhone 6. Really? Could they be that stupid?


Well, let's think about that. Hmm. Nope, it's unlikely they're that stupid.

Therefore it's much more probable that you do not have enough information. So let's fix that:

Haptic feedback is only part of Apple devices with Force Touch, which the iPhone 6 certainly doesn't have. Add to that the fact they are suing AT&T and this just makes them look like morons IMO.


All the listed patents do not apply to all the listed devices.

The ones related to Force Touch apply to the Mac. The ones related to 3D Touch apply to the iPhone.

AT&T is included because they enable Apple to sell devices that violate the patents. Similar to the way that Apple attacked all the Samsung dealers in Europe, and the way that Apple always claims in their own lawsuits that subsidiaries enable violation of their patents. It's a common tactic that adds pressure and possible intentional violations.

True. So they are a Delaware company, even though they are HQ'd in California.

Imagine the hate some companies would take for doing that.


You mean like the way that Apple and other major corporations have an HQ in California, enjoy California tech culture and weather, use California resources and courts, and yet funnel all their earnings through a shill company in Nevada to avoid paying California revenue taxes.

Apple also quite often files for trademarks ahead of time, using shill Delaware corporations to hide their identity. Pretty useful, that.
Rating: 7 Votes
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dmylrea
48 months ago
Since Immersion's stock ('http://ir.immersion.com/stockquote.cfm') is worth 1/2 of what is was in NOV 2015, I'm guessing they need money.

Apple should just buy them with pocket change and quash the lawsuit.
Rating: 7 Votes
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sw1tcher
48 months ago

Since Immersion's stock ('http://ir.immersion.com/stockquote.cfm') is worth 1/2 of what is was in NOV 2015, I'm guessing they need money.

Apple should just buy them with pocket change and quash the lawsuit.


Stock price has nothing to do with a company's finances. Immersion has plenty of money. They ended 2015 with cash on hand and short term investments of $64.93 million. They have $0 debt and have been debt free for many years. Their gross profit margin is 97.7%, so they're highly profitable.

Rating: 7 Votes
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sw1tcher
48 months ago

Shady? How exactly are they shady?


If the company's not Apple, then (delusional) logic dictates that it must be shady.
Rating: 5 Votes

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