SpaceTime3D, a New York-based software company, is suing Apple for infringing on its patents for the 3D interface used in Safari and iPhones (via AppleInsider). According to the complaint, Apple’s app switcher and Safari’s tab view infringe SpaceTime3D’s patents because they use a method that utilizes 3D space to display content on small-screen devices.If you own an iPhone, you’re probably familiar with Apple’s 3D multitasking design for iOS, Safari, and Apple Watch. When you want to see all the open tabs in Safari and all the open apps on your iPhone or AppleWatch, your device will display them in three-dimensional windows.
Well, according to SpaceTime3D, a company that ‘delivers a seamless digital experience for consumers,’ it owns the patents for this 3D graphical interface used by Apple, and Apple has ‘willfully infringed and continues to infringe the patents’ owned by SpaceTime3D. SpaceTime3D further charges Apple with attempting to patent the technology itself. But, according to the lawsuit, the attempt was unsuccessful because the New York-based company already owned the patents.On March 29, 2007, SpaceTime3D patented a technology that improved the user interface on devices with small screens. Because such devices, due to their smaller screens, show small active windows, which limits their potential to display a large amount of content, SpaceTime3D’s interface technology enables the devices to display content in an immersive 3D space, allowing users to quickly browse through ‘unlimited amounts of content.’
According to SpaceTime3D, Apple learned about the 3D interface technology from various press coverages, and in 2008, Ezra Bakhash, the founder of SpaceTime3D, personally showcased the technology to an Apple executive, who then shared the knowledge with various groups within the Cupertino company.
After the demonstration, somewhere around May 2008, an Apple representative said to Ezra Bakhash that he was ‘blown away’ with how useful SpaceTime3D’s technology could be and that it was a ‘significant time saver.’
SpaceTime3D requests a trial by jury and wants a declaration that Apple infringed the patents, as well as for Apple to pay SpaceTime3D’s sustained damages and attorney’s costs.
