Apple sued for patent infringement over iPhone

Macworld - EMG Technologies Inc. said it has filed suit against Apple Inc. claiming that Apple infringes an EMG patent in the way that the iPhone navigates the Internet.

EMG's patent, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and given U.S. patent number 7,441,196, describes an "apparatus and method of manipulating a region on a wireless device screen for viewing, zooming and scrolling Internet content." The patent was filed on March 13, 2006, and granted on Oct. 21. The suit was brought in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The "'196 patent," as the suit describes it, sports 76 individual claims. One of the claims covers the display of Internet content reformatted from HTML to XML on mobile devices. EMG describes it as "the industry standard currently displayed by the iPhone." Additional patent claims include the technology for manipulating a region of the screen for zooming and editing.

"The '196 patent covers the simplified interface of reformatted mobile content to provide optimum viewing and navigation with single touches on a small screen," said Stanley Gibson, an attorney representing EMG.

Representatives from Apple were unavailable for comment.