Given the size and resources of Apple, it’s not surprising that every now and then they are the target of lawsuits from what are known as “patent trolls” to try and squeeze out some kind of settlement money. The latest involves a company who claims that Apple has infringed upon a patent for Apple Pay.
According to the report from Patently Apple, the lawsuit says, “[The Patent] relates to management of virtual cards stored on mobile devices and discloses provisioning a contactless card in a mobile device with a mobile wallet application.” The company, Fintiv, claims that Apple has been infringing upon their patent and it is applicable across pretty much all iOS devices that support Apple Pay.
Whether or not the company will be successful in their claim remains to be seen, but like we said this won’t be the first time that a vague patent has been used against such high-profile companies. For those unfamiliar, patent trolls are usually companies that buy up or file for a variety of vague and general patents. They then use these patents against other companies, claiming infringement.
More often than not these lawsuits end in some kind of settlement agreement as it is usually a lot faster and potentially cheaper to settle than a long and drawn out court battle.