14 DAY TRIAL // Walker Digital, LLC has filed a suit against Apple and dozens other companies to stop the unauthorized use of its intellectual property rights and to recover its “investment in innovation,” the company said in a report.
Filed in Delaware, a total of 15 suits have names like Apple, Google, Microsoft, eBay, and Amazon on them.
The chairman of Walker Digital, Jay S. Walker (also the founder of priceline.com), calls the defendants “great companies,” yet upholds that their uprising was “first developed at Walker Digital in the mid-to-late 1990s.”
Mr. Walker fails to specify exactly which of the inventions published in the ‘90s are being infringed upon, but does note “We are proud of our inventions and the number of innovative businesses and activities founded on these inventions.”
We can trust that Apple is an important target in these suits, as the company is one of the few to really ‘innovate’.
It is also worth noting that Apple is targeted by patent suits all the time, not as much for stealing inventions, but rather for being too successful.
“These businesses have not only changed the way people around the world live, work, travel and interact socially and commercially, but also have given rise to numerous American jobs,” said Walker.
Walker Digital claims to have invested several hundred million dollars to create what is now a broad portfolio of inventions and operating companies.
It has filed some 400 patents, many of which are pending U.S. and foreign approval.
The company also says it has been able to generate revenues from its inventions well in excess of $200 million, from direct licensing, something that Apple and the rest of the bunch are refusing to take part in.
“Filing these lawsuits is not a step we sought or preferred,” said Walker Digital’s CEO Jon Ellenthal.
“We have reached out to a wide range of companies that are engaging in commercial activities that clearly depend on inventions created and owned by Walker Digital.”
“Unfortunately, many of these companies have refused to engage in meaningful negotiations that acknowledge the market value they derive from the use of our property,” Ellenthal said.