Apple has been sued by US patent company DSS Technology Management for infringing two patents relating to the use of wireless peripheral devices, parent company Document Security Systems said Wednesday.
DSS has accused Apple's products including its iMac, Mac mini, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iPod nano and the forthcoming Mac Pro of infringing one or more of the claims of its patents in providing wireless Bluetooth connections to a plurality of peripheral devices.
DSS said in October it acquired two patent portfolios from two different owners in the third quarter, covering semiconductor manufacturing and the use of low-power Bluetooth peripherals. It said it would monetize its acquisitions through licensing.
The patents bearing U.S. Patent Nos. 5,699,357 and 6,128,290 are both titled "Personal Data Network." From July this year, Lexington Technology Group, a privately-owned company that owned and managed intellectual property assets, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Document Security Systems and "provides strategy" for DSS' IP portfolio. It was renamed as DSS Technology Management.
Apple's consumer devices like the iPad and iPhone provide a battery powered system for communicating data in which the server and the peripherals communicate in low duty cycle RF bursts as claimed in one or more claims of the '357 Patent, according to DSS' complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.
The computer products from Apple named in the suit are said to provide a system for communicating data in which the server and the peripherals communicate in low duty cycle RF bursts as claimed in one or more claims of the '290 Patent.
DSS is suing for damages that may include lost profits but should not be less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the inventions of the asserted patents. Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.
In October last year, Lexington Technology Group subsidiary Bascom Research sued five companies, including Facebook and LinkedIn, for infringement of several patents described as instrumental to social and business networking technology.
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