Apple Slapped With Lawsuit Over iOS Home Screen Indicator

A tech company is suing Apple for infringing some of its patents related to several things used on many iDevices such as iPhones, iPads and even the Apple watch.

Swedish tech company Neonode has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Apple Insider reported. The company alleges that Apple has directly infringed on two of its patents.

Neonode, in the lawsuit, claimed that Apple directly and indirectly infringed U.S. patent 8,095,879, titled “User interface for mobile handheld computer unit.” This patent covers gesture-based interactions with touchscreen devices, and was filed long before Apple released its first iPhone.

The company also claimed that Apple infringed on U.S. patent 8,812,993, titled “User Interface.” This patent covers tech enabling the use of user interfaces with at least two states: a “tap-present state” with a “plurality of tap-activatable icons” and another with a “tap-absent state” where the interface doesn't display tap-activatable icons, but an “otherwise-activatable graphic is present” on the screen.

For sake of clarity, the first patent above will be called the '879 patent, and the other one will be called the '993 patent. Neonode alleges that Apple knowingly infringed on these patents with its myriad of devices and features. Here's a quick look at some of the Swedish company's allegations:

'879 patent

Neonode said Apple infringed on the '879 patent in several ways. The patent talked about a gesture where users will be able to do something by tapping on an object screen then gliding their finger away from that object. The object's position on the screen, however, doesn't change.

The lawsuit said Apple infringed on this invention by using it for the “Swipe to Open” feature, QuickPath (which allows users to type simply by tapping on a letter then gliding to other letters on the on-screen keyboard), the Control Bar (which lets users access Control Center by swiping from the top-right), as well as the use of third-party keyboard apps that allow swipe-typing like QuickPath.

'993 patent

The Swedish company also explained that Apple infringed on the '993 patent by enabling the use of several user interfaces that include otherwise-activatable graphics (“Swipe to Open” on the Lock Screen), and a plurality of tap-activatable icons (Home Screen). The company added that the Lock Screen interface transitions to the Control Center if the user swipes down from the Control Bar on top.

Neonode is seeking monetary damages, prejudgment interest, injunctive relief, and other relief for Cupertino's past and continuing infringement of the two patents.