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Smartflash was a USB-connected secure device that logged you into a unique site for purchasing entertainment content; it preceded (even) the iPod by a couple of years.

They never made the device. He made no hardware. It was IF someone made this device, then it could be used this way. They sued on a BUSINESS PLAN PATENT. Read the patents. Smartflash is merely the name of the business, now. . . for something that was NEVER PRODUCED or used. Apple does not use a plug-in device on any of their devices. . . and Smartflash comes in later, in 2010, after Apple develops the iTunes store to work with their Macs, iPod, and later the iPhone and iPads to modify their original patent to INCLUDE what Apple is doing WITHOUT the flash device in the original patent. . . using the same BUSINESS PLAN PATENT!

U.S. Patent Number	Date Patent of Application	Date Patent Granted
7,334,720	January 19, 2006	February 26, 2008
7,942,317	January 15, 2008	May 17, 2011
8,033,458	November 10, 2010	October 11, 2011
8,061,598	January 24, 2011	November 22, 2011
8,118,221	November 10, 2010	February 21, 2012
8,336,772	August 17, 2011	December 25, 2012
8,794,516	April 3, 2012	August 5, 2014

November 10, 1997:Apple Online Store opens for business using credit and debit cards securely, including downloadable software.
January 9, 2001: iTunes Software made available for the Apple Mac.
October 23, 2001: The iPod was first sold.
April 3, 2003: Apple's iTunes store opened for business using debit and credit cards on file with Apple.
January 9, 2007: The first iPhone introduced.
July 10, 2008: App Store for iPhone apps opens using credit and debit cards on file with Apple.
January 27, 2010: The iPad was introduced.
October 10, 2010: Mac App Store opens using secure debit and credit cards on file with Apple.
September 9, 2014: ApplePay announced using iPhone 6 and 6plus.

Using SmartFlash's interpretation of their patents, they invented ApplePay as well. . . and any device, card, or memory device that facilitates secure payments over the Internet IF it happens to pay for digital content, clear or encrypted, because this patent is a BUSINESS PLAN PATENT. . . under the claims they used in suit unless you can show that everyone who buys anything with a Mac, iPhone, or iPad plugs a SmardFlash dongle into their device before they can pay for their purchase.

As the information that IncPen provided to me demonstrated, SmartFlash was an actual device they made back in the late 1990s. . . but apparently it didn't go anywhere as a successful product. IncPen says they sold a kajillion of them, but to be successful, both ends of the pipeline, buyer and seller, would have to buy into the product technology, and the sellers did not adopt it.

Looking more into the lawsuit, it lists several APP makers as defendants along with Apple. . . for in-app purchases. Apparently under their theory it is the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac themselves that are the "dongle" connection for the app to make the purchase connection with the iTunes Music and App stores . . . quite a stretch of logic to apply their "invention" to a computer, a music player, a smartphone, and a tablet. . . which uses software. As I said, it is the BUSINESS MODEL PATENT which is being applied. The references at the bottom of the patents make that obvious. . . as does the need for BOTH ends of the pipeline to buy into the technology which is what sank SmartFLash as a physical product in the first place, its business model.

Now that many other companies have come up with a different business models that work, but actually do not USE the SmartFlash described techniques, they are trying to claim they invented the entire secure purchasing over the Internet to one device from another or from the internet. Just because there are superficial similarities does not make the approaches the same.