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.

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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."

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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.

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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

[Cboldt]

All he could possibly do is invalidate somebody else’s patent as improvidently granted.

[matt04]

All his drawings show what appear to be a physician keyboard. Apple never had a physician keybard. IF he had a patent he would have much better luck going after someone who made a device with one.

[Donglalinger]

Early Apple watch

[TexasRepublic]

Anyone could sketch a futuristic gizmo, but the devil is in the details. Sorry Buster, no cigar.

[Boogieman]

Lmao, his drawings don’t even make any sense. He says he’s going to cram a 3 1/2” floppy drive in a case that a 3 1/2” floppy drive cannot fit into, not to mention the 286 processor, hard drive, ram, dram, etc.

Basically he described a standard laptop computer of the time in his specs, then made a drawing that you could not possibly fit the contents of said laptop computer into.

[Boogieman]

Actually, you don’t need a copyright or patent to have a claim, though they help a LOT.

Your intellectual property is yours whether you file the necessary paperwork to protect it or not. It will just be much harder to prove in court that it IS your intellectual property if you didn’t file the paperwork.

[USMCPOP]

..By the way, my great grandfather is the one who came up with idea for round automotive tires... My G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Great Grandfather, "OG", came up with the idea of round tires. Too bad the car wasn't invented. Then someone else trademarked "Fire & Stone" and the rest is history. Don't pay the fees, don't get a patent. Sue someone big, hope to get a few bucks as a "go away" present.

[USMCPOP]

Can someone “patent” the inevitable?

Moot point. I'll just have it made in China and sell it for pennies on the dollar. Yankee dog...

[Hodar]

Summarily tossed with prejudice

[Nifster]

You lose when you abandon. It says he made no progress. Plus it was a utility patent

This will go nowhere

[Nifster]

Um he is plaintiff. Defendant has choice of jury or not

[Nifster]

His patent was abandon. That means he made no progress on it. That means his claim is invalid. Plus it no longer exists

Too bad sooo sad

[RegulatorCountry]

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.

Well, no, you overlooked the tiny solar panels.

[ifinnegan]

“Um he is plaintiff. Defendant has choice of jury or not”

Yeah, I am aware of that too.

Whole thing is ludicrous.

[dayglored]

LOL. That is all.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I believe the Star Trek communicator and tricorder predated this guy...

[roadcat]

This guy is full of crap. Lots of people made drawings and speculated on neat future gear, but without the engineering to make it feasible. The Star Trek TV series of the 1960s featured a communicator very similar to this man's drawings. So this guy ripped off Star Trek!

Back in the early 1980s, Steve Jobs had a public discussion with Maya Linn, the famed artist and sculptor. She asked why there wasn't a more portable version of the Apple computers. Steve Jobs described a notebook computer with a flat screen and minimal buttons using hand gestures that he was wishing he could build. She asked why not. He said the technology wasn't there just yet, but he hoped to build it someday. It took him another 20 years before new technology made it possible. Steve Jobs beat this guy to the punch, as did many others in dreaming of tech but not yet making it feasible.

[Nifster]

Ludicrous indeed

[Mark17]

Great Scott. I dreamed up inline roller skates, long before I ever saw them come out. I did not, however, make any technical drawings, so I guess I can't sue anyone. Darn. 😀

[Mark17]

I believe the Star Trek communicator and tricorder predated this guy...

Probably did bro. All this stuff is less than interesting to me, but wake me up if you hear someone say, "Sotty, meet me in the transporter room." I can assure you, that will get my attention. 😀😃😂😁😎😆