In this week's Law & Apple, we see a lawyer begin to explain how it is not his client's fault that she walked into a wall. Also, the leftover crumbs from a company that went bankrupt three years ago have decided to sue everyone that has ever made a decent, or even not so decent, smartphone.
Another fun trip on Apple's legal roller coaster, so let's cue up the "dun dun", and go for a ride to crazy land.
Paswell vs. Apple
Apple is known for a dedication to design, but to hear New York attorney Derek T. Smith tell it, apparently some designs are just too risky and potentially hazardous. In a lawsuit recently filed on behalf of Queens resident Evelyn Paswall, Smith states that Apple must "appreciate the danger that this high-tech modern architecture poses to some people."
The dangerous architecture in question is the iconic Apple retail store. According to a report in the New York Post, Paswell approached an Apple store in Long Island on December 13, 2011, and failed to realize the exterior of the store was made of glass. She unfortunately walked right into the wall and broke her nose. Paswall, 83 and once one of the top dealers in expensive Russian sable furs, perhaps assumed the entire exterior of the store was open to the 40 degree NYC winter air. Regardless, she is now suing Apple for the clear, cool sum of $1 million.
Perfect.
The lawsuit claims that Apple is "negligent . . . in allowing a clear, see-through glass wall and/or door to exist without proper warning." Smith goes on to state that, "My client is an octogenarian. She sees well, but she did not see any glass."
As crazy as this lawsuit sounds, it is not as crazy as some previous attempts to get at Apple's cash horde, including the guy who is suing Apple because Siri is only beta, or the guy who sued Apple claiming that Cupertino and the mafia were sending him death threats through his iPod. Nor is the first time our society has sued big companies over the inherent evils of glass. However it turns out for Ms. Paswell, we hope her injuries have healed and wish her all the best.
Graphics Properties vs. Apple
If you are stuck holding the reins of a company that went belly up, maybe the best thing to do is to double-down and sue everyone in the industry. Or not, actually; maybe that is not the best thing to do. Either way, when a group of investors claiming irreparable harm from the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world files a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, we're going to follow along.
Reuters reports that Graphics Properties Holdings Inc has launched a lawsuit agains Apple, Sony, HTC, LG, Research In Motion, and Samsung, claiming that all five companies are infringing upon patents that relate to a computer graphics process that turns text and images into pixels and displays them on screens. The lawsuit is specifically targeting the iPhone, the HTC EVO4G, the LG Thrill, the BlackBerry Torch, the Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S II, and the Sony Xperia Play smartphones.
By executing my "sue everyone" plan, we expect to see global revenues skyrocket!
Graphics Properties was originally Silicon Graphics Inc, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and sold most of its operatings assets to another company. The lawsuits, filed by the private investment firms and investors who now control what is left of Graphics Properties, claim that unless "the alleged infringements are halted, it will suffer irreparable harm." The lawsuits seek to stop the sale of infringing products as well as royalties and other monetary damages, and have all been filed in U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (if you are playing along at home, that would be Graphics Properties Holdings Inc v. Apple Inc, No. 12-00385).
Though at first glance this seems to be a group of investors trying to score some cash, it will be interesting to see how the court treats the validity of their claims. We'll certainly be watching to see where this one goes.
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. Follow him on Twitter, or subscribe to him on Facebook.
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