Samsung and Apple stung by patent claims

Audio technology company Andrea Electronics has targeted Samsung and Apple in patent infringement lawsuits.

The two suits, filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York yesterday, September 20, claim that both Samsung and Apple have infringed three of its patents.

The patents are US numbers 6,049,607; 6,363,345; and 6,377,637, which concern noise cancelling technology.

On the ‘607 patent, which covers an interference cancelling method and apparatus, Andrea claimed that Samsung and Apple had infringed it by selling products such as computers, smartphones and headphones.

As an example, Andrea said that Samsung’s Galaxy S7 product “and its use are covered by at least the asserted independent claims” for all three patents. Apple’s iPhone 6S product is also  alleged to infringe all three patents.

Andrea added that it had sent a notice letter to both companies in May last year. It added that although correspondence has been exchanged between the parties, “no significant licensing discussions have been held”.

“Despite actual notice for over 16 months, defendant was objectively reckless, and acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of the valid asserted patents,” said the filings.

Andrea is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages, triple damages on account of wilful infringement and attorneys’ fees.