Apple faces lawsuit over unauthorized use of secure messaging technology
What's the story
Apple has been hit with a federal court lawsuit accusing the company of illegally using patented secure messaging technology across a range of its products. The suit, filed on Thursday by Finnish holding firm MPH Technologies and discovered by AppleInsider, revolves around the infringement of as many as eight patents. Here are the details of the case.
Case explained
Center of the case: Encryption tech for secured messaging
According to the lawsuit, Apple used MPH Technologies' intellectual property relating to sending and forwarding messages. They had eight patents detailing various technologies, including VPN and end-to-end encryption, for establishing secured communication and all have been infringed by Apple, the firm claimed. Apple, as the plaintiff alleged, illegally deployed the technology into iMessage, FaceTime, and always-on VPN services.
Background
Background: It all started two years ago
MPH witnessed infringement in 2016 and decided to contact the iPhone-maker for a potential licensing agreement. However, after a series of emails, telephonic discussions, and documents reviews, Apple sent a letter in 2017 saying it didn't, "believe a license is required, as the asserted patents are not infringed and/or invalid as MPH appears to be interpreting the claims." This led to the lawsuit.
Products at issue
Apple products said to be using patented technology
As the discussions ended in July 2017 with eight patents still being in question, MPH took the case to the US District Court for the Northern District of California. There, it alleged Apple has deployed the encryption tech via iMessage and FaceTime into devices running iOS (v9 to v12), OS X (Yosemite, El Capitan), MacOS (Sierra, High Sierra), and WatchOS (v2 to v5).
Do you know?
Apple's Always-on VPN services also at issue
In addition to consumer products, the technology behind Apple's always-on VPN services, that provide mobile device management solutions to corporations and educational institutions, have also been named in the suit.
MPH's demands
What the plaintiff seeks?
By taking the case into court, MPH Technologies has demanded an undetermined sum as compensation for infringement from Apple. Also, the firm wants an injunction against Apple, prohibiting the tech giant from using its patented encryption tech in the future. You can read the entire document detailing the 'Secure Messaging Lawsuit' here: https://www.scribd.com/document/389627383/Secure-Messaging-Lawsuit