Back in 2008, Mirror Worlds LLC accused Apple of patent infringement for its Cover Flow, Spotlight, and Time Machine technologies. While the initial jury ruled against Apple and levied a fine of $625.5 million, a later appeal in federal court saw the ruling reversed.

Following further appeal by Mirror Worlds, the dispute made it to the Supreme Court, which today left the federal judgement in place after refusing to hear the case, reports Bloomberg.
spotlight

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s victory in a patent-infringement case was left intact as the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed a Texas company’s effort to revive a $208.5 million verdict against the computer maker.

The high court declined to hear a case in which closely held Mirror Worlds LLC said an appeals court erred in ruling that Apple didn’t infringe a software patent for a way to index and file documents. Mirror Worlds was co-founded by Yale University computer-science Professor David Gelernter.

With the Supreme Court declining to hear the case, Apple’s victory against Mirror Worlds will stand and the company will not be required to pay the $625 million fine.

Top Rated Comments

JGRE Avatar
151 months ago
Mirror Worlds Technologies, Inc. was a company based in New Haven, Connecticut, which created software using ideas from the book Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox...How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean (1992) by Yale professor David Gelernter, who helped found the company with Eric Freeman and served as chief scientist. Gelernter believed that computers can free users from being filing clerks by organizing their data. The company's main product, Scopeware, was released in March 2001 and attempted to organize a user's files into time-based "streams" and make such data more easily accessible across networks and a variety of devices. The company saw few sales, and announced it would "cease operations effective May 15, 2004".

Although they might have actually invented something, there now nothing more than a Patent Troll.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BC2009 Avatar
151 months ago
This is great. The $600M+ damages was ridiculous. That is in the same neighborhood as Samsung was fined for completely and blatantly ripping off Apple's technology to build the Galaxy S and Galaxy S2.

This actually reduces those damages to zero.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Plutonius Avatar
151 months ago
I guess the Supreme Court is as tired of these Apple lawsuits as we are.

Actually, the Supreme Court doesn't rule on many of the cases that it receives.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dashcs Avatar
151 months ago
They can't be considered Patent Trolls, as they actually invented and produced something with their invention.

Their "patent" was on the how documents get displayed on the screen.
They released a product in 2001 that organize files in a timeline fashion and discounting in 2004.
That was "it" from them...


When a "company" doesn't even have a website in the year 2013.They are not a company..
They are patent trolls.

The "inventor" doesn't even own his patents.
BTW Network-1 company(Patent Troll) purchased all of Mirror Worlds patents...for 3 million dollars,lol
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dulcimer Avatar
151 months ago
Sucks to be that guy... Unless, of course, his lawsuit was complete BS. I don't know.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oneMadRssn Avatar
151 months ago
You're only describing what is different. It's pointless. I already know that. Your explanation for having less severe standards for civil court boils down to "it's only money" and that's ridiculous when a lack of money can RUIN a person's life. I fail to see why civil court cases should be allowed to ping-pong while criminal cases end when a person is found innocent.



This is a total crock and exactly what I'm talking about. Either OJ killed them or he didn't. If he killed them, then he should be liable. If he didn't kill them, he shouldn't be liable. Like it or not, there's no other possibility in this particular case. He didn't leave the stove on accidentally and that lead to the house burning down with them in it. SOMEONE shoved a knife in Nicole's back. Now the laws of physics dictate either it was his arm or someone else's arm (possibly at his request, but that's another matter and still a criminal trial). The very IDEA that you can have a SEPARATE civil trial and come to a DIFFERENT CONCLUSION to the criminal trial is what I'm getting at here and what you apparently cannot seem to comprehend. The fact you accept things how they are is neither here nor there. I'm simply giving my opinion it's BS based on plain logic.



Yeah, the biggest thing anyone can get wrong is the result of the trial (i.e. if someone did it and gets off scot-free or didn't do it and gets prison or worse yet the death penalty when they're innocent). Unfortunately, that happens a lot these days due to the justice system being based on making MONEY rather than finding the TRUTH. If you have a high priced lawyer with a reputation for almost never losing a case, you have an example of the truth being buried because statistics dictate that every client they get cannot be innocent. This, along with things like basic needs and health care are the reasons this country is screwed up. Nothing is more important than the truth and that just goes out the windows with the high priced lawyer for hire system we have in place. Everyone is NOT equal under the law. Money goes a LONG way in the existing system and that's just wrong. You can disagree, but it won't change the facts of the matter.



I'm irritated because the system is rigged on the merits of money rather than the truth. I'm irritated because everyone sues at the drop of a hat these days and if you cannot afford to defend yourself, you're screwed even if you are right. Big companies do this all the time to smaller companies. Just sue them to oblivion and watch them fall before the result is ever determined since they cannot afford the lawsuit while the big company has lawyers on retainer they might as well use to sue.

This is way too much to parse.

If you really care, please read up on the difference between criminal homicide and civil wrongful death.
For criminal - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_Penal_Code and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder
For civil - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_death_claim
Basically, you can be liable for a death and not be guilty of the crime of murder. Those two things can happen, they are about two very different things. Culpability versus liability.

Consider that the reason expensive lawyers always win is because they pick and choose their clients; they only pick the cases they know they are likely to win. Sometimes because they know the client has a good defense (alibi, or what have you), or sometimes because they know the prosecutor is an idiot. Consider that public defenders do try, but they are so incredibly overworked and stretched thin it's impossible for them. These are major issues, you're right to be skeptical about the system.

You're correct to be pessemestic about our current court system, but some of your ideas of it are misguided. Our court system is in poor shape, but it's not for the reasons you give.

Otherwise, this is way off topic for this tread now; nothing to do with patent disputes anymore. If you want, PM me to continue this conversation.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
iOS 18

5 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.3

Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes. While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner. Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri ...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

Kuo: iPhone 17 Models Won't Have Smaller Dynamic Island

Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models. ...
iPhone 16 Apple Store Levels

Gurman: Apple Stores Receiving 'Merchandise' Updates Next Week

Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch. In each of the past four years, ...
apple power beats pro 2

Apple's First Product Announcement of 2025 is Imminent

Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year. Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...