Apple Defeats Patent Lawsuit in Texas Related to Face ID and Touch ID

A jury for the U.S. District Court for Western Texas on Friday found that the Secure Enclave built into modern Apple devices does not infringe four user verification patents owned by the company "Identity Security LLC," according to Bloomberg Law.

Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue Face ID
Apple introduced the Secure Enclave in 2013 in the iPhone 5s, the first iPhone with Touch ID, and it is now used in all iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and HomePod models. Apple says the Secure Enclave is a secure subsystem within its chips that is designed to keep sensitive user data secure, including Touch ID and Face ID data.

Identity Security LLC had sued Apple for patent infringement in 2021. It is not immediately clear if the company plans to appeal the jury's verdict.

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight

Tuesday April 1, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs. Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 18

Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.5 to Developers

Wednesday April 2, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming just two days after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. We don't yet know what Apple is introducing in the iOS 18.5...

Top Rated Comments

easy4lif Avatar
26 weeks ago
Never feed the Patent trolls! Only more will show up!
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
avatar77 Avatar
26 weeks ago
How has big tech not pushed harder for serious patent reform? When our forefathers were patenting little machines, fine, because they more or less had to build it to get the patent. But now companies can just patent vague tech they have no capacity or intent to build. It has to stop.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Baritone_Guy Avatar
26 weeks ago
West Texas is patent troll home ground.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
26 weeks ago
On one hand, it seems like the patents that they’re talking about in the lawsuit are exactly what the Secure Enclave is. So maybe they had a case.

But on the other hand, when I look up the company, I see no information on them except the patents they filed. No website, no products, no services, no anything. The only reference I can even find to them on LinkedIn is the law firm they’re being represented by, Cabello Hall Zinda.

So definitely a patent troll.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
26 weeks ago
I like how this so called company without any online presence, wanted to claim everything Apple sold was infringing on their four odd patients.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Arislan Avatar
26 weeks ago

I like how this so called company without any online presence, wanted to claim everything Apple sold was infringing on their four odd patients.
That's how most patent trolls roll. They have a patent that either they partnered with the creator or bought it which could maybe sort of not really be related to something a large company is doing. They ask for a license fee or offer to sell it to the big company. It makes me sick, but a lot of companies pay this because in the long run it's cheaper than litigating. I helped my company fend off one of these jerks. They dropped everything when they realized we had enough prior art to invalidate their [S]scam[/S] patents. Patent laws need an overhaul and trolls need consequences.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)