The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a case involving the right to challenge expired patents, leaving in place a win for Apple, Google, and LG Electronics, reports Reuters.
The justices declined to hear an appeal by Gesture Technology Partners, which was challenging a decision to invalidate a patent that it had accused the technology companies of infringing. The lawsuit was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 2021 by Gesture Technology Partners, (GTP), which was founded by Dr. Timothy Pryor in 2013. Pryor is the sole inventor of the five asserted patents. The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patents No. 8,194,924, 7,933,431, 8,878,949, and 8,553,079.
GTP claims that Apple had purchased patents and technologies from Pryor in the past, including his “multi-touch” patent portfolio in 2010. He later assisted Apple in asserting the multi-touch portfolio against HTC.
Pryor purported developed the technology embodied in the asserted patents of the lawsuit and repeatedly approached Apple about acquiring or licensing rights to them. However, the lawsuit claims that the tech giant not only didn’t license the patents, but failed to take any steps to change their products or to inform its engineers and design team of the asserted patents to avoid infringing them.
GTP is no stranger to lawsuits. It’s sued Huawei, Samsung, and Lenovo in the past for patent infringement.
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