Patent Troll Watch: Apple Sued over GSM

Apple (along with Palm, RIM, and the usual suspects) are all being sued by litigation happy patent-portfolio'er, WiAV Solutions, about whom Engadget Mobile says:

The company that doesn't make anything or even have a web site, but files so many patent lawsuits that some companies have taken to pre-emptively filing suits for declaratory judgment against it.

Must be something super-non-obvious, remarkably novel, spankingly applicable, and about which there couldn't possibly be any prior "art", right? Turns out not so much:

Detecting the difference between silence and voices, mobile device power management, and altering music to accommodate voices.

Congratulations on officially joining my all-time favorite patent suits like "tabs in a GUI", "display of a URL adjacent to window displaying contents of URL", and "transfer of file over network". But wait, could it get any more ludicrous? You betcha! Not only is WiAV suing, but it sounds like its forcibly asking the court to join its licensor, Mindspeed, into the suit as well.

Good luck with that.

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.