Apple is currently in hot water after it was ordered by a federal jury to pay Mirror Worlds and the damages may even reach as high as six hundred twenty five point five million dollars. The court decision stemmed from a case filed by Mirror Worlds against Apple citing infringement on multiple patents in connection with the way mobile gadgets and computers display information on their screens.
This case dragged patents that were used on Apple’s Mac OS X, the iPad, iPod, and the iPhone. It also includes the very popular interface setups like Apple’s Coverflow – the amazing 3D graphical screen interface utilized by iTunes and the iPhone. Another casualty is the Time Machine data restore and backup software.
The hearing took two years before the jury reached a ruling and the final judgment came in favor of Mirror Worlds to the tune of two hundred eight point five million dollars for each of the three patents infringed. But Mirror Worlds complete joy was a bit delayed since Apple has requested the court to postpone the execution of the patent infringement verdict alluding to a spat over a term called “triple dipping” that was mentioned by an attorney on his closing statements.
Apple, as expected, is filing for an emergency motion for a stay on the judgment and verdict and it stated in its argument that there are pending disputes surrounding the jury’s verdict form. Discrepancies on the opposing counsel’s erroneous suggestions have been the basis of Apple’s request but it was shot down by the judge. Triple dipping refers to the attempt by Mirror Worlds attorneys to confuse the jury giving them the impression that the amounts presented were to be added all up instead of a stand alone amount.
Apple, in an effort to curb the ruling, requested the court for a one-day trial to discuss and come up with a definite ruling on the said issue or if that did not work, to at least be allowed to present additional briefs to Judge Leonard Davis.
David Gelernter is the founder of Mirror Worlds, a professor of computer science form Yale University. He is the owner of the disputed patents. He also authored in 1992 the book Mirror Worlds and Drawing Life. The last book is Gelernter’s story of how he was able to survive the Unabomber’s mail bomb which left three people dead and twenty three injured.
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