Apple sued over iPhone Caller ID for Patent Infringement by Massachusetts Inventor

Apple is usually in news for not-so-good reasons. This time around too, it’s no exception.

Massachusetts inventor, Romek Figa of Hanover, has sued Apple for illegally using his caller identification technology in the very popular iPhone.

Figa, a 1971 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, operates Abraham & Son, an electronics consulting business. He along with two other inventors has developed a personalized caller ID system and patented it in 1990.

The lawsuit claims that Apple infringes on a patent on a caller ID system. The patent informs, “an automatic incoming telephone call number display system for detecting an incoming call and identifying the party associated with the incoming call number.”

The 18-year old patented system also describes to include, “a directory of telephone numbers and parties associated with those numbers,” and it is equipped with “circuitry detects the origin telephone number of an incoming telephone call and compares that number with numbers in the directory for identifying the calling party.”

Moreover, it is believed to also include a display that “permits the user to view the incoming call number and party associated with that number.” It’s worth noting, however, that this display differs from the iPhone’s display.”

In the statement, it was mentioned that leading mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung have licensed the patent. However, Apple has refused to the same. Now, Figa wants to halt sales of the iPhone and is looking to charge a great amount of money and license his patent. But Apple says “NO.”