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iPad included in patent infringement suit

EMG Technology accused Apple of infringing on a patent it owns on zooming and scrolling on a mobile Web browser. Now the iPad has been added to the suit.

Erica Ogg Former Staff writer, CNET News
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur.
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A Los Angeles company says it owns the patent on zooming and scrolling, and says the iPad is infringing on it. James Martin/CNET

A company that has already sued Apple over a patent on zooming and scrolling on a mobile Web browser, is now adding the iPad to the lawsuit Monday.

EMG Technology, a company based in Los Angeles, sued Apple in November 2008, claiming that it owns U.S. Patent No. 7,441,196, which covers the "Apparatus and Method of Manipulating a Region on a Wireless Device Screen for Viewing, Zooming and Scrolling Internet Content." The company says the method of scrolling and zooming on a mobile Web browser was issued to Elliot Gottfurcht, one of the owners of EMG Technology, in October 2008, though the original patent was filed in 1999. The case is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Though the original suit targeted the iPhone, the iPad, which went on sale Saturday, is now being included. Gottfurcht said in a statement Monday that "Apple refuses to pay reasonable royalties for its use of EMG's patents relating to navigating Internet mobile websites and applications, which were filed in 1999, several years before Apple's mobile patents were filed."

This is the second iPhone/iPad-related patent suit directed at Apple in a week. Last Tuesday, Elan Microelectronics accused Appleof violating a patent it owns on multitouch technology. And Apple has started its own patent skirmish with HTC, accusing the phone maker of infringing on several patents related to the iPhone's graphical interface and software.