App developer files a lawsuit for patent infringement against Apple

Apple has a reputation for beg, borrow or steal as the latter part was quoted by the man, Steve Jobs, himself. As per the latest updates revolving around the various lawsuits, Apple is being accused of, an app developer has come forward citing patent infringement and antitrust violations against the tech juggernaut filed on Friday at Delaware Federal Court.

The developer named Blix is the maker to an email client which goes by the name Blue Mail. As per the lawsuit states, Apple has introduced a similar feature that Blue Mail uses thereby infringing its patents.

As NDTV Gadgets 360 puts it, Apple or any giant tech companies getting sued is nothing new. However, the one who sues Apple has always been major tech companies like Spotify which means smaller developers wouldn’t even file for a motion let alone lawsuit since it is rare to compete against such a monopolistic tech giant that controls the entire iOS ecosystem.

Anyways, Blix states that his Blue Mail app offers a feature that lets users send and receive emails using randomly generated email addresses without ever revealing their own email address. Blix alleges that Apple introduced a similar ‘Sign-in feature’ which randomizes the email addresses and allows users to send and receive email addresses back and forth without ever revealing their original address.

Note that it is possible that many other apps can do it but Blix specifically stated that Blue Mail uses a patent method to do it about which is user friendly and novel which makes it a patent infringement matter since Apple actually copied it and rolled out the service one year after Blue Mail rolled it out which gives the latter an upper hand in the court of law.

Blix approach law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan last August. He added that the app’s standing on the App Store has been falling since. In fact, Blix introduced a Mac client as well which eventually got ridden out of Mac’s App Store after Apple sent an email stating that this app is too similar to another app which turns out to be an app called TypeApp, also owned by Blue Mail’s parent company and the interesting thing is, the app is not even active on App Store.