Pennsylvania man claims Apple infringes upon his patent for web carousels, seeks royalties

Apple today has been revealed as the target of yet another lawsuit. This time, Pennsylvania resident Samuel Lit is suing Apple over a 2008 patent covering web carousel technology. Lit claims that the design of the Apple.com homepage, which cycles through a variety of different products, infringes upon his patent.

The patent in question is for an “information display system and method” that uses elements of a display engine to take information from a server to a webpage and display it in a carousel design, reports AppleInsider. Additionally, the patent covers “a database comprising storage and retrieval functionally for statistical and financial information” in regards to the content displayed on the carousel.

Specifically targeting Apple.com, Lit says that the “site includes a display carousel embedded in the site and contains five display windows configured to display content and revolve at a predetermined rate of speed.” Lit even goes as far as to point out the five windows that are displayed in the carousel, which at the time of his filing were for watchOS, Swift Playgrounds, WWDC 2016, iOS 10, and macOS Sierra. Now, the carousel features banners for the iPhone 6s, Apple Watch, iPad Pro, and MacBook. Lit again argues that because the information is “instantly passed between said display engine and display carousel,” Apple is infringing upon his patent. 

In terms of what Lit is seeking, he says he would like judgement that Apple has directly infringed upon his patent and a “reasonable” royalty with interest at the maximum rate allowed by law.

In the past, Lit has attempted to monetize the patent via a website he created YourDisplayCarousel.com, but that site shut down in December of last year. He is also an avid radio broadcaster, working often with network audio solutions and hosting a live streaming radio show.

Last month, a patent claim was brought against Apple by a Florida man claiming the company infringe upon a patent application he made in 1992 for sketches of an “electronic reading device.” While the man never actually received the patent because he failed to pay the registration fee, he is nonetheless seeking $10 billion from Apple.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on Lit’s case against Apple, but it seems to me that a lot of other websites should also be the target of this same web carousel lawsuit.