EMG Technology Accuses Apple’s New iPad of Patent Infringement

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

EMG Technology, LLC today announced that it will move to include the newly released Apple iPad (media player, personal TV & eBook reader) as an additional accused product in EMG’s previously filed patent infringement lawsuit against Apple Inc. APPL, which is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

“EMG will take steps to add Apple’s newly released iPad to the range of Apple products already accused of patent infringement in the case, including the iTunes Store, iPhone, iPod Touch and Apple TV. The trial date is set for September 12, 2011,” explained Shawn Hansen, an attorney with the Palo Alto, California office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, who is representing EMG in the case.

Elliot A. Gottfurcht, managing member of Santa Monica, California based EMG and lead inventor on the patents asserted in the case, said: “Apple refuses to pay reasonable royalties for its use of EMG’s patents relating to navigating Internet mobile websites and applications, which were filed in 1999, several years before Apple’s mobile patents were filed. Perhaps the reason lies in a statement Steve Jobs made in the 1996 documentary called Triumph of the Nerds, ‘We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.’”

Gottfurcht continued: “The irony is that recently Apple filed an International Trade Commission action against HTC, a major manufacturer of Google and Microsoft smart phones for allegedly infringing Apple’s patents. Apple is requesting the Federal Government to impose an injunction to block Google’s Android and Microsoft’s phones from entering the United States. Steve Jobs released a personal statement putting HTC on notice, ‘…competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.’ EMG intends to hold Apple to the same standard by fighting Apple’s reckless disregard for EMG’s patent rights.”

Jason Newman, executive at Untitled Entertainment, a top industry management firm in Century City, explained that, “Apple plans to own and control the distribution of movies, television and print content, just as it did in the music business, unless it is stopped soon. Only three people can stop Apple before history repeats itself: Rupert Murdoch (FOX), Brian Roberts (Comcast/NBCU, if the acquisition is completed) and Sumner Redstone (CBS & Paramount Studios). Steve Jobs is a major shareholder of Disney/ABC.”