Neonode filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple

On June 8^th, Swedish touch-screen technology specialist Neoode filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple in the Texas West District Court. Neonode's recently claimed that iPhone 11 Pro and iPad Pro have infringed their patent, which models are equipped with the ability to unlock the screen by lifting it up, so-called ‘Quick Pass’ feature that allows users to enter words with sliding without lifting fingers off from the keyboard.

 🔺 neonode.com

   'Slide to unlock' that appeared in a lawsuit of Apple v. Samsung

Among the patents that Neonode claims to infringe, the 'Slide to unlock' is particularly noticeable. In 2012, Apple claimed that Samsung infringed on a patent related to the 'Slide to unlock' feature. The US court ruled that Samsung should pay Apple about USD130 bil. in damages. However, German lawsuits had opposite results from those in the United States. Samsung has searched and submitted prior art for the 'Slide to unlock' feature, and as a result, the German Supreme Court has invalidated Apple's European patent (EP1964022).

🔺 wipsglobal.com
the drawing of the Apple's patent, EP1964022

   Neonode, the owner of prior art found by Samsung

Apple's patent in the German lawsuit was invalidated by Neonode’s patent Samsung found. At the time, Neonode's patent, which had affected to the lawsuit, was simply to slide the screen to activate the specified feature. But this time, the patent that Neonode claimed to infringe is a combination of a touch screen and gesture recognition, and has been upgraded that the previous one proposed by Samsung as a prior art. This patented technology is a technology related to a user interface that performs various predefined features after detecting a user's unique behavior on a touch display.

🔺 wipsglobal.com
Neonode's patent "User Interface"

   The lawsuit seems against Apple

It was reported that Neonode filed a lawsuit and submitted evidence that Apple had intentionally infringed even though they were aware of the patent existing. In the litigation document, the details of the patent dispute between Samsung and Apple were described in detail, and it was emphasized that the company's patent was recognized as a prior art in the process.

🔺 wipsglobal.com
Litigation search, 'Neonode v. Apple'

From Apple's point of view, it seems highly likely that the lawsuit will flow quite difficult to Apple. If they deny the novelty of Neonode and insist on the existence of prior art, it would prove that their patent is also invalid, and they would have difficulties to insist on their patent's advancement, so it seems that there is a great difficulty in building a lawsuit strategy. Back in the times that Apple had accused Samsung of copycats, is a situation turning back to Apple. We’re wondering how Apple will overcome this crisis.