An East Texas Federal Court jury has determined that Apple infringed on a patent when it released its Cover Flow, Spotlight and Time Machine interfaces. The Court concluded that Apple owes Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter $208.5 million in damages for each violation. This totals $625.5 million. Apple is appealing the decision.
Gelernter, who started a now defunct company called Mirror Worlds in 2003, claims his company had created each concept, the first two of which are used extensively on the iPhone/iPod touch. The case was filed in 2008.
Cover Flow, which allows a user to see and move photos as well as album covers in a three dimensional manner first appeared in iTunes 7.0 in 2006. In 2007, it was made available on the iPod Nano. Eventually the feature was made available across Apple's entire line of iPhones and iPods.
Spotlight debuted in 2006 as part of OS X 10.4 as a search feature. A similar feature under the same name debuted in the iOS beginning with version 3.0 in June 2009.
Time Machine is a backup utility that debuted in 2007 as part of the Mac OX "Leopard" release. Using graphics, a user can 'go back in time' to gather older files which can then be restored.
The Mac Observer claims that both Cover Flow and Time Machine were developed by Apple as part of its HyperCard application. Developed by Bill Atkinson, HyperCard was originally released by Apple in 1987. Atkinson worked at Apple as a computer engineer and photographer from 1978 to 1990.
We'll keep you updated on this story as it develops.
