MAJOR COMPANIES ARE usually the targets for patent claims. Some can be embroiled in legal battles for years – see Apple and Samsung’s own battles against each other for example – but other times, companies can be targeted by patent trolls.

Patent trolls are those who try to use patents as a way of making money by getting other companies to pay up instead of developing new products themselves. To do that, it makes claims about infringement in the hope that it will receive a payout. Unsurprisingly, that involves targeting large companies.

Apple is being sued by US company Corydoras Technologies for six features included in its iPhone and iPad range, reports Patently Apple.

The six patents, which Corydoras says it purchased from Japan, involve basic features that you would associate with any smartphone like allowing voice calls and sending and receiving email. They include:

• Being capable of voice communication.
• For placing cameras on the same side as the screen.
• Displaying geographic location on its screen.
• Allowing phone calls, FaceTime calls and FaceTime Audio calls to be made with voice commands.
• Allowing users to block unwanted calls.
• Allowing users to send and receive emails.

This isn’t the first time Corydoras has tried suing a large company. Patently Apple notes it did the same thing with Samsung back in March and cited the same patents, but no ruling has been made yet.

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