Gallium Nitride Thin Film Semiconductor Devices are No Laughing Matter

It seems as if lately there are more headlines announcing smart phone-related lawsuits than there are about the life-changing little gadgets themselves. The latest reported by the LA Times took even me by surprise though – “Boston University sues Apple over patent, wants iPhone sales ban”. Are they kidding? Ban the sale of iPhones? Boston University, it seems, is seeking to ban the sale of the iPhone 5, iPad, and MacBook Air, pending a lawsuit filed last week with the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The lawsuit seeks to “permanently enjoin [Apple]… from making, having made, selling, offering for sale, distributing and/or using products” that infringe on said patent, stating that the infringement has and will continue to cause “substantial and irreparable damage to the University”.

The patent in question was invented by Dr. Theodore D. Moustakas in 1997 and uses gallium nitride thin film semiconductors to generate blue lasers in a cheap and compact fashion. Assuming the five percent of the population out there that understood that sentence are not reading this (my geekiness knows some bounds), it seems fairly unclear up to this point what specific part in the Apple products the University is alleging has infringed on the patent, and the documents filed by the University do not specify. The lawsuit has gone as far as to demand an account of all profits gained from the alleged infringement, so that they may be “awarded damages adequate to compensate them” for the wrongful theft of their intellectual property.

While Boston University appears to be gathering a pretty compelling case against Apple, this is not their first ride on the “Who Thought of it First” go-round. Earlier this year, they filed similar suits against companies including Samsung and Amazon alleging patent infringement. Given the laboriously complex nature of these lawsuits and the mind-numbing attention to minute and seemingly endless details, the case could easily last years before reaching a resolution. In the meantime, never you fear iPeople – it is highly unlikely that the courts will rule to take these products off the market. Since Boston University does not actually claim to be using the patent currently, it will be tough to prove that any competitive edge could be obtained by the University by keeping the patent themselves.

 

Sources: USA Today, LA Times, cnet.co, macworld.com