Another lawsuit filed against Apple suggests that it has copied the new Shortcuts app, which has made its entry into iPhones with the recent iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 update.
New Day, New Lawsuit
Virginia-based company Aftechmobile has taken Apple to court alleging that Apple infringed one of the 28 claims mentioned in Aftechmobile’s “558 patent”. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Northern District of California.
It suggests that Apple’s description of its Shortcuts app and Claim 5 in Aftechmobile’s patent appear to have a striking similarity.
Claim 5 says, “Inserting one or more of said pre-coded software components into said launched mobile application creation interface; assembling said inserted one or more of said pre-coded software components…“
Despite the similarity, Apple uses the word ‘Actions’ for the customized shortcuts created, and Aftechmobile calls them ‘pre-coded software components.’
Additionally, the company demands a trial by the jury and expects “a fair and reasonable royalty.”
Apple’s Shortcuts App
For those who don’t know, Apple has introduced an in-built Shortcuts app, which allows users to create customized shortcuts of their daily tasks to perform those very tasks with great ease.
As a reminder, the Shortcuts app was previously available in the App Store as a free Apple app. Before all of this, it was a third-party app called Workflow, which Apple took over back in 2014.
Is it even a lawsuit?
One thing worth noting is that Apple acquired the Workflow app in 2014, and Aftechmobile was granted the patent in 2018. This puts the lawsuit in question, and I am not sure if Apple is even involved in the patent infringement act.
Another thing that raises a question against the Virginia-based firm is that its website mostly shows an error while visiting it and redirects to another site called Mobirise.net. Mobirise.net’s founder and CEO is Arshad Farooqi, who also happens to be the applicant and inventor of the “558 patent.”
Apple hasn’t provided any official statement regarding the lawsuit at the time of writing.
Apple’s previous lawsuit
Quite recently, Apple was sued by a company called Corephotonics. The lawsuit hints Apple stole the dual-camera technology seen in the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8 Plus, the iPhone X, the iPhone XS, and the iPhone XS Max.
As Apple is seen on the lawsuit side more often than not, we have to see if a judgment is passed and the iPhone maker is forced to pay some money. We will let you know once we get an update.
So stay tuned to Fossbytes for more information.
