Edible Apple

Another day, another dolla – and another lawsuit of course. Apple and an assortment of other tech companies, including Google, LG, Microsoft, and Motorola, were recently served with a suit alleging infringement pertaining to 8 wireless email technology patents

The plaintiff in this case is NTP Incorporated, a patent holding firm originally co-founded by Tom Campana Jr. (now deceased), an inventor from Chicago who in 1990 invented a form of wireless push email. NTP’s other co-founder is Donald Stout, who had this to say regarding the suit:

Use of NTP’s intellectual property without a license is just plain unfair to NTP and its licensees. Unfortunately, litigation is our only means of ensuring the inventor of the fundamental technology on which wireless email is based, Tom Campana, and NTP shareholders are recognized, and are fairly and reasonably compensated for their innovative work and investment.  We took the necessary action to protect our intellectual property.

Now if NTP sounds familiar, it’s because the company was previously involved in a well-publicized patent dispute with RIM over the company’s implementation of wireless email technology in its line of Blackberry devices. In fact, NTP was set up precisely because RIM refused to pay Campana any licensing fees. The case went to trial and NTP ultimately emerged victorious. Not only were all of its patents found to be valid, but RIM was ordered to fork over $612.5 million in damages. With that victory under its belt, NTP is now setting its sights on other tech companies even though NTP itself has no intention of using its patented technology in products of its own.

NTP also has ongoing suits against AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.