Apple Inc (AAPL)

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Apple Ordered To Pay $3.3M In IPod Patent Suit In Japan

Law360, New York (September 26, 2013, 2:34 PM ET) -- A Tokyo court reportedly orderedApple Inc. Thursday to pay 330 million yen ($3.3 million) to an inventor who filed a patent infringement suit against the California-based tech giant over the iPod nano, iPod mini and iPod classic.

Judge Teruhisa Takano entered the judgment against Apple in a suit from inventor Norihiko Saito, who alleged that the click wheel enabling users to peruse the menus of those Apple mp3 players ripped off technology described in a patent he and his company had applied for in 1998, according to Kyodo News.

Apple reportedly didn't incorporate the device into its music players until the debut of the iPod mini in 2004.

Saito, 56, filed an application with Tokyo Customs in 2007 alleging Apple stole his idea for the click wheel, a circular controller consisting of a round touch sensor and four buttons enabling users to scroll through their playlists, select songs, skip tracks and perform other functions.

The inventor sought an exclusion order barring imports of the allegedly infringing iPods, Kyoto reported.

Apple then sought a declaratory judgment that its devices did not infringe, prompting Saito to launch a countersuit seeking 100 million yen in damages.

After the parties failed to reach a compromise during three rounds of negotiations, Saito upped the estimated damages, and the amount he ultimately received, based on past sales, was considerably less than the 10 billion yen he was seeking.

An Apple representative could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

Apple has been hit with claims in U.S. courts over its popular music players as recently as April, when San Diego-based e.Digital Corp. alleged that the iPod, iPhone, iPad and MacBook all infringed three patents relating to flash memory technology for handheld recording devices.

E.Digital, which has more than a dozen cases pending over the same patents, also accused Apple in that California federal court case of inducing infringement by telling the owners of those devices to use them in an infringing manner.

Apple asked the court to toss the suit, contending that the patent holder had broadened the meaning of the claims well beyond the limitations of any reasonable claim construction.

But that dismissal bid was shot down by U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw, who said e.Digital had properly stated its claims and it was premature for the court to throw out the case based an alleged misinterpretation of the claims considering the judge had not yet engaged in claims construction.

Case and counsel information for the parties in the Tokyo district court case were unavailable.

http://www.law360.com/articles/475891/apple-ordered-to-pay-3-3m-in-ipod-patent-suit-in-japan