Another day, another lawsuit. Nuevas Tecnologías y Energías Catalá, a small Spanish tablet computer maker and one of the few firms to beat Apple in court, is now accusing Apple of extortion.
Last November Nueva successfully defended its Android-based tablet computers (marketed under the label NT-K) in court. The company also accused Apple of abusive anticompetitive behavior.
“What makes this is even more noteworthy is the fact that Apple asserted the same design-related right — a so-called Community design — with which it won two injunctions against Samsung in Germany (one related to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and another one related to the Galaxy Tab 7.7) but lost in the Netherlands (where an injunction was granted only against certain Samsung smartphones and based on a technical patent, not a design-related right),” “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/oRMib) noted at the time.
Last year Apple alleged Nueva’s tablet was a forged iPad and convinced custom officials to impound shipments of the NT-K coming into Spain. Those shipments ended up sitting in a warehouse for a year. Now Nueva says Apple’s move was extortion and wants to recover some damages, notes “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/GJslm). The Spanish company filed those charges with the office of the district attorney (public prosecutor) for the Valencia region.