Apple is a big target for patent infringing lawsuits given the technical complexity and popularity of its products, this time, a small Florida-based firm called SP Technologies is suing Apple, alleging that the iPhone's touch-screen keyboard interface infringes upon a patent awarded to the company in 2004.
The filing describes a "method of providing a user interface for receiving information from a user using a user immutable graphical keyboard linked to an input area, [...] invoking the graphical keyboard on a touch screen display to receive input from a user, and [...] maintaining the graphical keyboard on the touch screen display such that the user cannot move, resize, remove, or close the graphical keyboard through the user interface while the input area remains and requires input."
SP Technologies is seeking compensation for the number of iPhones sold thus far, as well as a permanent injunction against Apple's use of the patent in its hardware. Apple has not responded to the lawsuit yet.
Patent suits are a dime a dozen for big companies such as Apple, the company has already been sued by Cisco over the use of the iPhone name and by a man claiming the company's policy on iPhone battery replacements wasn't know prior to the device selling June 29. We'll have to wait and see where this goes.