Florida Man Sues Apple for $10+ Billion, Says iOS Devices Copy His 1992 Drawings

MacRumors ^ | June 28, 2016

[Swordmaker]

Florida resident Thomas S. Ross has filed a lawsuit against Apple this week, claiming that the iPhone, iPad, and iPod infringe upon his 1992 invention of a hand-drawn "Electronic Reading Device" (ERD). The court filing claims the plaintiff was "first to file a device so designed and aggregated," nearly 15 years before the first iPhone.

​

Between May 23, 1992 and September 10, 1992, Ross designed three hand-drawn technical drawings of the device, primarily consisting of flat rectangular panels with rounded corners that "embodied a fusion of design and function in a way that never existed prior to 1992."

Quote

What Ross contemplated, was a device that could allow one to read stories, novels, news articles, as well as look at pictures, watch video presentations, or even movies, on a flat touch-screen that was back-lit. He further imagined that it could include communication functions, such as a phone and a modem, input/output capability, so as to allow the user to write notes, and be capable of storing reading and writing material utilizing internal and external storage media. He also imagined that the device would have batteries and even be equipped with solar panels.

Click to expand...

Ross applied for a utility patent to protect his invention in November 1992, but the application was declared abandoned in April 1995 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after he failed to pay the required application fees. He also filed to copyright his technical drawings with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2014.

While the plaintiff claims that he continues to experience "great and irreparable injury that cannot fully be compensated or measured in money," he has demanded a jury trial and is seeking restitution no less than $10 billion and a royalty of up to 1.5% on Apple's worldwide sales of infringing devices.

Ross v. Apple, Inc. was filed with the Florida Southern District Court on June 27. The case number is 0:2016cv61471.

Article Link: Florida Man Sues Apple for for 1992 non-Invention

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Does this mean that if I make some drawings of a flux capacitor I own the engineers who create the first time traveling DeLorean?

[nickcarraway]

Is that a Newton?

[Dr. Sivana]

That’s funny. He’d have a better chance going after 3Com/Palm or if he must have Apple, for the Newton. The whole point of the iOS iPod/iPhone/iPad is that there IS no built-in physical keyboard.

[ifinnegan]

“...he has demanded a jury trial”

Of course he has.

[Swordmaker]

Florida man who did NOT get a patent in 1992 for his drawing of a do everything electronic reader he scribbled out, sues Apple claiming that Apple's iOS devices, all of them, including iPods, are infringing his NON invention which was never patented. — PING!

Apple sued for infringing non-patented idea
Ping!

The latest Apple/Mac/iOS Pings can be found by searching Keyword "ApplePingList" on FreeRepublic's Search.

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me

[Lurking Libertarian]

Ross applied for a utility patent to protect his invention in November 1992, but the application was declared abandoned in April 1995 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after he failed to pay the required application fees. He also filed to copyright his technical drawings with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2014.

He has no patent and no copyright, ergo no legal claim. His lawsuit will be dismissed in short order.

[Jonty30]

He probably wont win because he abandoned his patent, but it is probably a valid claim otherwise because he was able to patent it before Apple and its possible Apple got the idea from this patent.

If he wins, he would be able to file a claim with other cell phone companies or ereaders. I wish him luck.

[VanDeKoik]

Hope he wins.

100 million less Cook can use to bankroll Hillary.

[lacrew]

His last, listed feature is a 3.5” Disk Drive. Wow.

[Donglalinger]

Gene Roddenberry invented the Ipad in 1987, He should have sued also

[2banana]

You can see tablets on 2001 A Space Oddessy...

[Swordmaker]

He probably wont win because he abandoned his patent, but it is probably a valid claim otherwise because he was able to patent it before Apple and its possible Apple got the idea from this patent.

He never got a patent. He tried to revive his patent and the Appellate court said NO, you can't. He had no grounds to stand on in his suit. He never paid his patent application fees. Incidentally, his drawings were dated the same day that Apple's John Scully demonstrated the first Newton and it appeared in newspapers. Oops. But Ross did not even include a touch sensitive screen or stylus. There is also prior art to his drawing. Lots of it.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"...Ross applied for a utility patent to protect his invention in November 1992, but the application was declared abandoned in April 1995 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after he failed to pay the required application fees..."

Pffttt!!!

[The KG9 Kid]

Sure. Sounds legit. That looks just like an iPhone. Of course.

By the way, my great grandfather is the one who came up with idea for round automotive tires. I’m suing every tire manufacturer on Earth for violating my great-grandpa’s unpatented design sketches. If the tire manufacturers cease and desist and migrate to using octagonal tires or something, I’ll drop my suit.

[Swordmaker]

His last, listed feature is a 3.5” Disk Drive. Wow.

Which, proportional to his drawing is about 1.25" wide. Now THAT is an accomplishment! LOL!

I really like his removable rechargeable battery that is about 3/4" X 3/4" by less than 4" that powers all of this. Amazing.

[bigbob]

well, nobody will say he didn’t go big...

[wrench]

And push-to-talk flip phones on early Star Trek shows.

[Swordmaker]

Did anybody else notice that a patent is only good for 20 years from time of application and had he been granted one it would’ve expired in 2012????

[Zeneta]

Can someone “patent” the inevitable?