Apple Hit by New Patent Lawsuit — iCloud at Heart

San Jose, California-based Innovation Automation has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for Eastern Texas Tyler Division against Apple Inc. alleging patent infringement by its iCloud platform.

Innovation Automation claims Apple’s iCloud service infringes upon two patents granted to the company in 2000.

Innovation Automation alleges that Apple's iCloud infringes upon patent 7,174,362 titled "Method and System for Supplying Products from Pre-Stored Digital Data in Response to Demands Transmitted via Computer Network."

The plaintiff also states that Apple has infringed upon granted patent 7,392,283, which bears similar nomenclature, according to Patently Apple. A Judge to preside over the case has not been designated as of yet.

The source also mentions that Innovation Automation has filed a separate lawsuit against Amazon claiming similar patent infringement by their Kindle tablets and distribution service called “Cloud Player.”

Apple’s iCloud is a powerful suit of web services, many of which have been inherited from MobileMe (and earlier .Mac).

Apple says “iCloud does more than store your content — it lets you access your music, photos, calendars, contacts, documents, and more, from whatever device you’re on. And it’s built into every new iOS device and every new Mac.”

The cloud service could be summed up to sound pretty much like the title of Innovation Automation’s cited patents – customers keep their content stored on Apple’s servers; Apple delivers it upon request.

iCloud requires iOS 5 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd generation or later), or iPad; a Mac computer with OS X Lion or later; a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7; and iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion for additional features. Access to some services is limited to a maximum 10 devices.

iCloud is a free service with 5GB plans, and can be upgraded to 10GB, 20GB and 50GB with an annual fee.