macnn/ipodnn

03/21/2008, 9:35am, EDT

Friday, March 21st

Apple faces Time Machine lawsuit

Apple is now facing its first lawsuit involving Time Machine, court filings show. The Texan company Mirror Worlds has accused Apple of infringing on four patents: three of these relate directly to a "document stream operating system," while the fourth covers an attached information management system. The document streams depicted group many different file types together, arranged chronologically and in piles; this most closely resembles the Time Machine backup software in Mac OS X Leopard, but may also cover the sorting system on iPods and iPhones, for chronological items like podcasts.

Mirror Worlds elaborates on its complaint by suggesting that Apple knew of the patents as far back as 2001, although this predates the development of either podcasts or Time Machine by several years. It may be that as in ZapMedia's combination iPod/iTunes lawsuit, Mirror Worlds brought the patents to Apple for licensing, and now believes they were later copied despite being formally rejected. The former company is asking for an injunction as well as damages.


Filed under: iPod, iPhone, Apple
Other story tags: lawsuits, Time Machine

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sixcolors
how dare Apple
0
03/21, 9:38am, EDT
How dare Apple Sort things in chronological order!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Oct 2001
User is offline
guzzi
what a country!
0
03/21, 10:02am, EDT
Lawyers, Lawyers everywhere! How can I get in on this?
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jun 2006
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dliup
Counter Sue
0
03/21, 10:23am, EDT
Apple, please Count-Sue to invalidate obvious patents!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jan 2006
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Roehlstation
Software patents
0
03/21, 10:57am, EDT
I don't understand how you can patent software, software is nothing more than written language, I can understand copyrighting it, because you actually have to produce it.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Aug 2001
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Guest
software patents
0
03/21, 11:15am, EDT
I don't understand how you can patent software, that basically replicates a method for doing something that man has done for centuries outside the digital realm. For example: filing paper chronologically. We all have filing cabinets full of bills filed alphabetically then chronologically and have been doing that well before computers, isn't that prior art? I can't believe the US patent office gives patents for such blatantly obvious things.
MeandmyMac
Steve Ballmer says...
0
03/21, 11:18am, EDT
Developers!, Developers!, Developers!, Developers!

While Steve Jobs says...

Lawyers!, Lawyers!, Lawyers!, Lawyers!

If either man HAD any hair, I think it would have been pulled out by now!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Feb 2008
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Deal
Apple's Stance
0
03/21, 11:30am, EDT
Apple clearly rejected it, so they know that they can beat it.

All they really need is some prior art and Apple doesn't have to look too far for that—just take a look back to HyperCard. It stacks data, one card on top of another in any order you choose, including chronological.

Stupid lawsuit, stupid patent.
Mac Enthusiast
Joined Apr 2001
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legacyb4
May as well
0
03/21, 11:47am, EDT
take all the other backup software companies to court as well since any package that allows for file revisions does the same thing.
Mac Elite
Joined May 2001
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Kainzow
You reap what you sow
0
03/21, 12:34pm, EDT
Apple does the very same thing all the time - usually bullying small, complementary companies. And they don't always win either.

Sadly, these corporate egomaniacs have yet to realize that the ONLY parties who benefit are the lawyers.

This sums it up nicely: http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/871.html
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined May 2007
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dwoodruff
Haven't they heard?
0
03/21, 1:04pm, EDT
I own the patent on discovering previous patents and copyrights and filing said complaints before a system of arbitration or judgement.

I'm gonna use my patent on all of them.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jul 2006
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