Legal Disputes against giant companies

Big companies are always under the spotlight when it comes to the introduction of new technologies, however sometimes smaller companies question whether the new technology is really new or whether it actually belongs to another company...this is the case of Elan against Apple. Apple, lately has been acclaiming the fact that it has a lot of multi-touch patents however it must be a little bit concerned about the fact that last week a news came out that it's on the receiving end of a lawsuit from Elan Microelectronics.

Elan makes keypads for laptops, more specifically those used in the EeePC. It claims that Apple has infringed two of its patents and is seeking an injunction on the sales of the MacBook, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Although they are unlikely to get the spot on sales, and given the fact that they have already won a similar case against another company (Synaptics) on one of the same patents, the chance is high that Apple might be forced to settle.

The issue of patent infringement does not only happen between small and large companies but it also happens between large famous companies too...it is interesting to try to find out whether patent infringement is done knowingly or due to a lack of proper patent research. The fact is that the purpose of patents is to protect the inventor of new technologies in such a way that inventors continue to come up with new inventions...hence it is important to protect these inventors ideas while at the same time making sure that everyone can benefit from the new discoveries.