17 October 2012Patents

Study shows Apple’s aggressive approach to patents

Apple is increasingly suing its rivals over its mobile phone patents, according to an industry report.

The study, published by Thomson Reuters, analysed lawsuits involving Apple’s 1,298 mobile patents, from 2008 to July 2012. The company filed four lawsuits in both 2008 and 2009, before filing 12 in each of 2010 and 2011. By July this year, it had sued companies 19 times.

These 51 lawsuits represent more than 10 percent of the total cases it has been involved in between 2008 and July 2012. In that time it has been the defendant 263 times (55 percent) and counter-claimant 120 times (25 per cent).

Reaching 150 last year, the number of cases including Apple’s mobile patents has increased year on year since 2008. Bob Stembridge, an IP analyst at Thomson Reuters said he expects 2012’s figure to surpass last year’s 150.

He said Apple’s increasingly aggressive approach to patent litigation reflects the importance of competing in the multi-million dollar smartphone industry, which includes companies such as Google and Samsung.

He added: “Despite the widespread criticism of runaway smartphone industry patent litigation, the trend is emblematic of how many companies are using IP as a strategic weapon in the capitalist system.”

Although the data do not specify which companies Apple is fighting against, the company has filed numerous high-profile suits against products using the Android operating system, which is owned by Google.

Stembridge noted that the statistics may partly reflect the wish of late Apple chief executive Steve Jobs to “destroy” Android. Jobs believed that the rival operating system infringed Apple’s software.

The report is available online at http://go.thomsonreuters.com/iphone-report

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