Apple's legal problems continue this week because a Texas company has filed a lawsuit claiming that Apple is infringing on a patent that describes methods by which mobile terminals can be charged, the iDevices being the ones being discussed by to Somaltus LLC.
According to this entity, Apple would use in its iDevices a Somaltus technology that describes the method by which mobile terminals can be charged, the patent for this technology being registered in 2005 by an entity that later sold it to those from Somaltus.
Practically, Somaltus is most likely a company specialized in the acquisition of patents and their use in lawsuits filed against large manufacturers of mobile terminals or computers, but until now no company of this kind has been successful in a lawsuit filed against at Apple.
Last year Somaltus sued Ford, Nissan and three other car manufacturers, managing to collect various sums of money from them to end the lawsuits, the same patent for charging batteries being invoked then, the 5 car manufacturing companies being, apparently, convinced that they will lose the lawsuits.
"The [iPhone] has a charging system according to which the system operates in fast-charge mode until the battery reaches 80% capacity and then adjusts to trickle-charge mode when the capacity exceeds 80%. When the capacity drops below 80%, the system gain adjusts to fast-charge operation.”
In the lawsuit, Somaltus claims that the iDevices infringe its patent because they use an algorithm that constantly adjusts the level of energy sent to the battery, this system being characteristic of most battery charging systems in various products.
Of course, no one can say whether Apple will give in to Somaltus and pay compensation, plus possible licensing fees, but I'm sure that its lawyers will not let themselves be beaten too easily.
