Apple sued over screen rendering technology

Not your tech, claims firm

15 February 2009 17:57 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Apple is being sued over the screen rendering technology that it uses in the iPhone and iPod touch according to reports on the Internet.

If successful, Apple could be forced to payout huge sums as well as possibly change the way users interact with the popular smartphone.

In the suit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, Macworld magazine reports that "Picsel Technologies claims that the rendering process Apple uses on the iPhone violates Picsel's patents".

The company says that its technology accelerates the process of updating the display on a device.

According to the report, "users would experience long screen update delays if it weren’t for the use of the patented technology. Zooming and panning documents, Web sites, and images would not work on the iPhone as fluidly".

Reviewers and users constantly praise the iPhone and iPod touch for its ability to quickly respond to users commands when they touch the screen, even though neither device has the fastest chipset in the market.

Picsel, say Macworld, is asking the court to order Apple to compensate them for devices already sold with treble damages, although why it has taken the company over 18 months to come forward isn't being stated.

Apple recently made clear that it would vigorously defend any infringements on its IP, referring perhaps to the launch of the Palm Pre announcement at CES in January.

Related
Full tags
Phones, Mobile phones, Apple, iPhone, Picsel
UK Shopping
mobiles.co.uk, three.co.uk, carphonewarehouse.co.uk, Nokia.co.uk, o2.co.uk, orange.co.uk, phones4u.co.uk, t-mobile.co.uk, vodafone.co.uk, ebay.co.uk
US Shopping
bestbuy.com, ebay.com

share Subscribe to RSS feeds email story save story print story pdf

Comments

  • I hope Apple get screwed over. Makes a change from them doing the screwing over! Posted by Anonymous, England
  • whoever wrote this article must be dyslexic, because half the spelling is messed up. im sure picsel or piscel (however the author intended) have waited this long so they can profiteer of the huge boom in sales anticipated with the Ipod touch and iphone 2g and 3g Posted by Imran, United Kingdon
  • i dont care bcoz i hate apple tc Posted by milan, philipines
  • As far as any company is giving products like iPhone, i don't mind who sue who. Customers should get the Best of the Best. Posted by Mustafa Ali Qizilbash, Singapore

(Will not be published)

  (Next time sign in to bypass captcha)

Latest in Phones

Latest on Pocket-lint.com

About Pocket-lint

Pocket-lint is your one stop shop for gadgets, technology and consumer electronics, bringing you the low-down on the latest televisions, cameras, phones, GPS and much more. Whether it's learning about what's hot in the world of Apple, finding out about the latest home cinema kit from Samsung and Sony or merely seeing what not to buy, we have you covered. So check out our reviews, news, comment, hands-on photo galleries and videos. Enjoy.

Pocket-lint.com poll

Q. Do you still buy CDs?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Do you want the Droid by Motorola? 53% said yes and 47% said no

Top 10 Broadband

Compare 50+
broadband packages

Home Broadband »

Top products

tip us on news

Rss feed

Follow us on Twitter