Apple appeals PTAB decision against Corephotonics
LG InnoTek has recently won in South Korea
Apple has appealed US Patent Trial and Appeal Boar’s (PTAB) rejection of its invalidation request against Corephotonics.
PTAB has rejected Cupertino’s claim that the Israeli firm’s Miniature Telephoto Lens Assembly (Patent No. 9,568,712) was invalid.
Corephotonics has used the patent to file two lawsuits against Apple. The company claims the iPhone maker violated over 10 of its related patents in the smartphone’s telephoto cameras.
In South Korea, LG InnoTek, Apple’s largest camera module supplier, won against Corephotnics by having the Israeli company’s patents deemed invalid by South Korea’s IP Trial and Appeal Board in July.
It is the same patent being under review in the US.
LG InnoTek was reacting to Corephotonics’ patent lawsuit filed against it in South Korea.
Apple and Corephotonics are reportedly negotiating the terms of their deals alongside the lawsuits.
Corephotonics has less to lose in this fight. It doesn’t produce its products directly. The company has claimed iPhone 7 Plus to iPhone XS Max violates its patent.
A person knowledgeable on the matter said the biggest winner of the fight between Apple and Corephotonics was Samsung Electronics, which acquired the Israeli firm last year. Corephotnics was fighting all its competitors, they said.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a competitor to LG InnoTek in camera modules, is planning to use Corephotnics patents to make its folded zoom camera modules.
Meanwhile, LG InnoTek will have a limited impact from its lawsuit with Corephotonics. Even if Apple loses against Corephotnics, it will have limited impact on camera module prices, another person said.