Apple Loses Patent Infringement Case to Mirror Worlds

Apple has lost a patent infringement case to Mirror Worlds over how it displays documents on a computer screen, according to Bloomberg.

The federal jury in Tyler, Texas, awarded $208.5 million in damages for each of the patents infringed. The verdict form was unclear as to whether the amount applies to the three patents collectively or would be charged individually. Lawyers for closely held Mirror Worlds declined to discuss the verdict.

AppleInsider notes that the patents were based on research by Yale professor David Gelernter and then-doctoral student Eric Freeman. Gelernter emerged as a prominent computer scientist in the 1980s, eventually developing a time-based method of organizing data that he dubbed "lifestreaming." Patents for the concept date back as early as 1999.


Apple uses these methods of displaying information in Spotlight, Time Machine, and iTunes Cover Flow.

Read More [via AppleInsider]