You see all those apps and features built into platforms like iOS and Android? How many are actual original creations from Apple or Google? And how many were bought or licensed via patents? That’s where it gets tricky. Unfortunately, Apple is now finding itself in a bit of legal trouble as a lawsuit has been filed against the company over Siri and virtual keyboard features.
Apple hit with Siri, virtual keyboard lawsuit
The lawsuit is being filed by Cerence, a subsidiary of Nuance Communications. For those unfamiliar, Nuance’s technology was used to power Siri’s speech recognition back in the day. Now, according to the lawsuit, Cerence claims Apple has infringed upon patents related to Siri and virtual keyboard features.
The lawsuit points towards multiple patents that cover features found in virtual keyboards as well as Apple’s “Hey Siri” voice command. For instance, one of the patents Cerence alleges Apple infringed upon is US Patent No. 9,361,885 titled “Methods And Apparatus For Detecting A Voice Command.”
It says, “Apple makes (…) certain products that utilize methods for monitoring voice commands while operating in low power or idle mode, including without limitation Apple iPhones and iPads with iOS5+, Apple Watches with watchOS 5+, and Apple HomePods released on or after February 2018 (…)”
It also points towards other patents related to the virtual keyboard. This involves US Patent No. 7,453,439 titled, “System And Method For Continuous Stroke Word-Based Text Input.”
The lawsuit says, “Apple makes (…) certain products with “slide to type” keyboard functionality which allows the user to enter a word by contacting the keyboard on or near the key of the first letter, tracing through or near the key of each letter in sequence, and lifting the stylus from the keyboard in the vicinity of the key of the last letter, and matches the input pattern to the correct word by comparing it against words in a database, including without limitation Apple iPhones and iPads with iOS13+ (…).”
Not Apple’s first patent rodeo
That being said, this wouldn’t be the first time Apple has been hit with a patent lawsuit. Perhaps the most infamous one had to be the lawsuit with Samsung. That one dragged on for years spanning the globe. It resulted in both Apple and Samsung devices facing various import and sales bans.
It remains to be seen if Apple will be able to wiggle its way out of these allegations. Alternatively, it might go to court. Or Apple will simply offer to settle. Apple cannot deny it did not know about these patents. According to Cerence, it says it offered Apple an overview of its patent portfolio, spreadsheets that showed Apple cited Cerence in its own patent applications, and charts that mapped Cerence’s patents to Apple products and features. The company also says it held limited discussions with Apple, but no resolution was reached.
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