Days after Apple walked away with a patent for the Smart Cover, the company finds itself in another lawsuit. Get this: a Colorodo man claims Apple’s Smart Cover violates his 2005 patent for a “portable computer case.” It’s a good thing the iPad is a Post-Personal Computer instead of a portable computer, isn’t it? “The claim is based on US patent 6,977,809 which describes an “integral case” that attaches to a computer. The patent says the invention is useful for situations like airport X-ray lines,” according to Paid Content.
Kidding aside, Jerald Bovino filed the lawsuit and is asking both Apple and Target to pay royalties for using his technology. The technology in question? A series of ribs on a case to protect the device. It’s great that Bovino is protecting his patent, but we have to wonder where the lawsuit was against InCase for their Convertible Magazine Jacket. It’s pretty well known that the Smart Cover is a rip-off of InCase’s iPad case. Heck, the last we looked, there are a number of cases similar to Apple’s Smart Cover that came out well before Apple introduced their magnetic ribbed case. And yet, no lawsuits. Looks like he isn’t protecting that patent so well after all.
This case isn’t going to last long.
