Stephanie Russell-Kraft
Law360, New York (August 29, 2013, 7:45 PM ET) --
Apple Inc. fell short in its early bid to dismiss a suit alleging its iPhone, iPod, iPad and MacBook products infringe three patents relating to flash memory technology for handheld recording devices, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw denied Apple's bid for judgment in a suit accusing Apple's products of infringing three patents belonging to San Diego-based E.Digital Corp., saying that it was too early in the case to rule on issues of fact.
“To address this argument on the the merits, the court would have to engage in claim construction and infringement analysis, both of which are premature at this stage of proceedings,” Judge Sabraw said.
The complaint, filed in April, alleges that several of Apple's products, including the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and MacBook, infringed E.Digital's patents regarding methods for editing and recording messages on flash memory in handheld devices, as well as the technique for verifying the integrity of flash memory.
E.Digital also accuses Apple of inducing infringement by instructing its customers to operate the products in an infringing manner.
Apple has asked the court to dismiss the claim based on the fact that E.Digital had stretched and contorted the claims beyond reasonable claim construction and had failed to sufficiently allege induced infringement.
But Judge Sabraw disagreed with Apple's argument, stating that E.Digital had properly stated its claims and that the company's identification of Apple's customers, rather than specific individuals, as the induced infringers was sufficient at this stage in the proceedings.
E.Digital has demanded a trial by jury and hopes to recover three times the amount of damages incurred by the alleged infringement.
E.Digital has 13 cases pending regarding the patents, targeting various tech firms including
SanDisk, Phillips, RIM
BlackBerry, Motorola, JVC Americas Corp. and
Fujifilm, according to the company's attorney.
The company settled similar infringement claims against
Kyocera Communications Inc. and musical equipment maker Samson Technologies Corp.
in 2011, and against
Samsung Electronics America Inc.
in 2009.
Counsel for Apple declined to comment on the case Thursday.
The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Numbers
5,491,774;
5,742,737; and
5,842,170.
E.Digital is represented by Anton Handal, Pamela C. Chalk and Gabriel Hedrick of Handal & Associates.
Apple is represented by Sarah Barrows, Stephen Ullmer, James J. DeCarlo, and Kevin J. O'Shea of
Greenberg Traurig LLP.
The case is e.Digital Corp. v. Apple Inc., case number
3:13-cv-00785, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
--Editing by Andrew Park.
