Apple Sued Over Alleged Face ID Patent Infringement

TrinamiX, a subsidiary of the German chemical giant BASF, is suing Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, accusing the company of infringing seven patents related to face authentication technology used in Face ID. In its complaint, first reported by Reuters, trinamiX said it spent years developing technology to stop people from fooling face unlock systems with a photo, a fake mask, or a silicone copy of someone's face. The complaint says Apple's original version of ‌Face ID‌, introduced with the iPhone X in 2017, did not use trinamiX's technology, but that newer iPhones and iPads do. TrinamiX's system is designed to tell real skin apart from things like photos or masks, essentially adding a check that catches fakes conventional optical face scanning methods would miss. The complaint alleges that "Apple knew or should have known of the high probability that updating its iPhones and iPads to incorporate ‌Face ID‌ using material and skin detection" infringed seven trinamiX patents, causing "substantial damages and irreparable injury." The seven patents cover two areas: detecting skin during face unlock and identifying what material something is made of. TrinamiX names a broad swath of Apple devices as accused products, including the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16e, ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus, ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro, ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max, iPhone 17, iPhone 17e, iPhone 17 Pro, ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max, iPhone Air, 11-inch iPad Pro (4th generation), 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ (6th generation), and the 11- and 13-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models with the M4 and M5 chips. TrinamiX is asking the court to find that Apple infringed its patents, to block Apple from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the accused products, and to award damages and attorneys' fees. The company has requested a jury trial. The full complaint is available via IP Fray. Popular StoriesApple's Siri Settlement: Here's When iPhone Owners Can Submit ClaimsIn May, Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle a U.S. class action lawsuit over Siri AI's delayed launch, and eligible iPhone users could receive up to a $95 payout. Today, a new court document revealed when customers will likely be able to begin submitting claims. If the dates proposed by Apple's lawyers are approved by the judge, eligible customers would begin to be notified about the...Dispute With OpenAI Said to Be a 'Mess of Apple's Own Making'OpenAI yesterday denied Apple's allegations of trade secret theft, telling a federal court that Apple failed to show any confidential information was actually stolen by its former employees, according to Reuters. In a new filing submitted to the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, OpenAI argued that the dispute is "a mess of Apple's own making." The filing is a direct response to...Apple Hit With $2.7 Billion Lawsuit Over App Tracking RulesApple is facing a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) lawsuit in London accusing it of imposing stricter App Tracking Transparency rules on third party developers than on its own advertising services (via Reuters). The case, filed at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal, follows a similar suit in which the tribunal ordered Apple to pay around £1.5 billion over App Store commissions last October, a...