Boston University is suing Apple, claiming the company ripped off one of its computer engineering professor’s patented electronic semiconductors, reports the “Boston Herald” (http://tinyurl.com/lxlb4up).
In a lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the university alleges that a small electronic component patented by computer engineering professor Theodore D. Moustakas in 1997 is included in the iPhone 5, iPad, and MacBook Air. “Defendant’s acts of infringement have caused and will continue to cause substantial and irreparable damage to the University,” BU alleges in its complaint.
Tech analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates told the “Boston Herald” that he wouldn’t be surprised if a successful verdict or settlement netted BU in the realm of US$75 million. He said: “Courts can be irrational in these cases. You get these ridiculous judgments sometimes and they may think of Apple as a big, rich company that doesn’t deserve all that money.”
