Apple is once again being sued for patent infringement. A new report released by Reuters shows that Corephotonics, an Israeli startup, has filed a lawsuit against the company claiming that the duel-camera feature found in the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 7 Plus is a breach of its registered patents.
David Mendlovic, the CEO of Corephotonics, alleges that he tried to convince Apple to enter into a partnership with his company, but without any success. According to reports, Apple was very positive about the technology and even stated that ‘it could infringe’ on this particular patent without any fear of serious consequences.
The complaint also states that Apple’s chief negotiator treated Corephotonics’ patents with contempt, and openly said to Dr. Mendlovic and others that even if they infringed on the patents, it would take millions of dollars in legal costs and years before Apple might have to pay anything.
In particular, Corephotonics claims that Apple violated four of its patents, including features like optical zoom and other technology for dual camera sensors in smartphones. These patents were registered between 2013 and 2016 and iPhone launched the iPhone 7 in September 2016.
Apple has also registered its own twin-camera patents, including one for optical zoom.
Corephotonics has so far managed to raise $50m, the most recent of which was $15m from companies such as MediaTek, Samsung Ventures and Foxconn. The latter is one of Apple’s manufacturing partners.
The lawsuit was filed in California on Monday. Legal firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which also advised Samsung when it sued Apple for patent infringement, is representing Corephotonics.
The iPhone X, which was only released a week ago, doesn’t form part of the case at this stage, but it will probably be added later.