Apple Owes $5.7 Billion to Litigation-Funded Firm in Patent Case; Bloomberg Law, September 25, 2026

  

Michael Shapiro

, Bloomberg Law; Apple Owes $5.7 Billion to Litigation-Funded Firm in Patent Case

"Apple Inc. owes over $5.7 billion for infringing patents belonging to Taction Technology Inc. that cover vibration-based technology incorporated in models of iPhones and Apple Watches, a federal jury in San Diego found Friday.

Jurors in the US District Court for the Southern District of California spent parts of two days before determining that Apple infringed claims from two Taction haptics patents — US Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117. They determined, however, that the infringement wasn’t willful."

Apple accuses OpenAI of using stolen trade secrets to create its upcoming AI gadgets in new lawsuit; CNN, July 10, 2026

 Lisa Eadicicco, Hadas Gold, CNN ; Apple accuses OpenAI of using stolen trade secrets to create its upcoming AI gadgets in new lawsuit

"Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, alleging the AI company has stolen the iPhone maker’s trade secrets to develop its own yet-to-be-unveiled AI gadgets.

In the suit, filed in the District Court of Northern California, Apple accuses OpenAI of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract.

OpenAI last year announced it has been working with Apple’s former design chief on a hush-hush project to build devices meant to bring smartphone users into the age of AI.

The device is expected to be unveiled later this year – but the lawsuit could throw a wrench into those plans. The suit could also complicate OpenAI’s plans to go public soon in a massive, hotly anticipated IPO."

Testing Ethical Boundaries. The New York Times Sues Microsoft And OpenAI On Copyright Concerns; Forbes, December 29, 2023

  Cindy Gordon, Forbes; Testing Ethical Boundaries. The New York Times Sues Microsoft And OpenAI On Copyright Concerns

"We have at least seen Apple announce an ethical approach to discussing upfront with the US Media giants their interest in partnering on AI generative AI training needs and finding new revenue sharing models.

Smart Move by Apple...

The court’s rulings here will be critical to advance ethical AI practices and guard rails on what is “fair” versus predatory.

We have too many leadership behaviors that encroach on others Intellectual Property (IP) and try to mask or muddy the authenticity of communication and sources of origination of ideas and content.

I for one will be following these cases closely and this also sends a wake -up call to all technology titans, and technology industry leaders that respect, integrity and transparency on operating practices need an ethical overhauling.

One of the important leadership behaviors is risk management and looking at all stakeholder views and appreciating the risks that can be incurred. I am keen to see how Apple approaches these dynamics to build a stronger ethical brand profile."

Steve Jobs licensed Amazon’s one-click patent for $1 million in one phone call; Quartz, September 17, 2018

Kabir Chibber, Quartz; Steve Jobs licensed Amazon’s one-click patent for $1 million in one phone call

"“Licensing Amazon.com’s 1-Click patent and trademark will allow us to offer our customers an even easier and faster online buying experience,” Steve Jobs said at the time.

A Wired magazine oral history of Infinite Loop, Apple’s corporate offices in Cupertino, California for most of its existence, tells the behind-the-scenes story of that decision."

Make a Name for Yourself: 4 Expert Tips for Choosing a Name and Trademark; Entrepreneur, August 2, 2018

Darpan Munjal, Entrepreneur; Make a Name for Yourself: 4 Expert Tips for Choosing a Name and Trademark 

"A recent Harvard Law Review study highlighted the upwards of 6.7 million U.S. trademark applications (registered 1985 to 2016) that had been made over the last three decades and suggested that we might soon be at the point of actually running out of trademark options...

Choosing an effective trademark means a trademark that's unique. With upwards of 6.7 million trademarks out there, and only 171,476 words in the English dictionary, you need to start thinking outside the box."

Apple CEO Tim Cook slams Facebook: Privacy 'is a human right, it's a civil liberty'; NBC, March 28, 2018

Elizabeth Chuck and Chelsea Bailey, NBC; Apple CEO Tim Cook slams Facebook: Privacy 'is a human right, it's a civil liberty'

"Privacy to us is a human right. It's a civil liberty, and something that is unique to America. This is like freedom of speech and freedom of the press," Cook said. "Privacy is right up there with that for us."

His comments are consistent with Apple's long-held privacy stance — which the company stood by even in the face of a legal quarrel with the U.S. government a couple of years ago, when it refused to help the FBI unlock an iPhone belonging to the man responsible for killing 14 people in San Bernadino, California, in December 2015."

Growing a Different Apple; New York Times, 1/2/17

Vindu Goel, New York Times; Growing a Different Apple:

"Founded in 2014 by three former senior managers from Apple’s iPod and iPhone groups, Pearl has tried to replicate what its leaders view as the best parts of Apple’s culture, like its fanatical dedication to quality and beautiful design. But the founders also consciously rejected some of the less appealing aspects of life at Apple, like its legendary secrecy and top-down management style.

The start-up, which makes high-tech accessories for cars, holds weekly meetings with its entire staff. Managers brief them on coming products, company finances, technical problems, even the presentations made to the board.

“It’s very liberating to know what’s going on,” said Mr. Latimer, who left Apple in May to join Pearl. “Everyone is contributing here, so everyone has a need to know.”"

Chief’s Silicon Valley Stardom Quickly Clashed at J.C. Penney; New York Times, 4/9/13

Stephanie Clifford, New York Times; Chief’s Silicon Valley Stardom Quickly Clashed at J.C. Penney: "From the moment Ronald B. Johnson arrived at the Plano, Tex., headquarters of J. C. Penney, some there believed he would not last long. On Monday, the doubters were proved right. After a tumultuous 17 months as chief executive of Penney, Mr. Johnson was pushed out. He blew into Plano a star, a man who helped build the juggernaut Apple Stores. But his Silicon Valley ways — evident from a showy party in early 2012 that he threw to celebrate himself and his plans, replete with a light show, fake snow and flowing liquor — jangled from the start... Mr. Johnson wanted to transform Penney into shopping wonderland with designer boutiques and stable prices instead of coupons. But many of his ideas were not tested and soon backfired, and in recent months the board, including William A. Ackman, the activist hedge fund titan who had recruited him, grew impatient."

The Gap Logo Debacle: A Half-Brained Mistake; Harvard Business Review, 10/8/10

Umair Haque, Harvard Business Review; The Gap Logo Debacle: A Half-Brained Mistake:

"So argue with me if you like, bring the full arsenal of overquantified pseudomathetical Wall Street analyses to the table if you want — but I'd gently suggest: most companies don't take design seriously, but they damn well should. What standing in their way? Yesterday's tired, increasingly stale assumptions that what really matters in hard-nosed, tough-as-nails business is the left-brained stuff: negotiation, calculation, and, to it bluntly, intimidation. Hence, cutting-edge design as a nice-to-have, not a can't-live-without."

http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/10/the_gaps_logo_debacle_a.html

Steve Jobs's Disastrous iPhone 4 Press Conference; Harvard Business Review, 7/19/10

Nick Morgan, Harvard Business Review; Steve Jobs's Disastrous iPhone 4 Press Conference:

"I watched with growing dismay and disbelief as Steve Jobs struggled through his press conference last week about the iPhone 4 dropped calls. Jobs has a rightly earned reputation as a remarkable communicator; indeed there has been at least one book written about his presentation style as something worthy of emulation. But his usual elegant combination of enthusiasm and sang-froid deserted him at Friday's press conference. Jobs was defensive, angry, and ultimately ineffective. It's a classic example of how not to conduct public relations.

Jobs usually comes out beaming and full of enthusiasm for a new product or update. His body language reflects that enthusiasm; he's open, gestures comfortably with his hands, and makes a good connection with his audience.

Today, he was deep in his own personal maelstrom of defensiveness and hostility. His head was frequently down; in fact his whole posture betrayed his unhappiness. He frequently hid his hands behind his back — a classic defensive posture — when he wasn't clasping them in front of his stomach (another defensive posture).

He began by showing a long demo whose sole purpose seemed to be to demonstrate that other smart phones drop calls too. This is akin to defending yourself by saying, "Yeah, well, Jimmy stole cookies from the cookie jar, too!" In other words, it's no defense at all, and it looks nasty, dragging everyone else into the mire with you.

Saying, "We're not perfect; smart phones aren't perfect," repeatedly, Jobs added a kind of surly repetitiveness to his defensiveness.

Then he got into the data, which in fact shows that not many people are complaining about the iPhone 4, and it's not dropping many more calls than the 3GS. But his tone was angry and defensive, so his argument sounded petulant rather than contrite.

When a company wants to put out a PR fire, the only way to do it is to humbly acknowledge whatever mistakes happened and offer to do something concrete about it to see that it stops or it won't happen again. Jobs' attitude throughout was, as he said about 10 minutes in, that the whole thing was "blown out of proportion." That won't win back the customers whose calls were dropped, and it won't satisfy the press.

Transparency is the key for all PR blunders, but transparency without attitude. Unfortunately, Jobs had attitude oozing from every pore. So much so that when he said, "We care about every user," he sounded like he didn't mean it. Putting his hands behind his back at that precise moment didn't help either.

So pervasive was his anger that it colored the best moment in the news conference, when he announced that every iPhone 4 user was going to get a free case to solve the antenna-dropped calls problem. That should have initiated the beginning of the end of the PR fiasco, because it was the right thing to do: take action to repair the damage in a way that brings some benefit to the customer. But the way Jobs handled it sounded grudging. He said that Consumer Reports suggested Apple should "just give everyone a free case - so we are." His tone was close to a snarl.

Jobs ended on stronger ground, talking about his — and Apple's — passion for delighting their customers. Here he was on a happier plane, and he managed to sound more convincing, if still a little grumpy.

Jobs is Apple's spokesperson, and he usually does a terrific job. But in this case, his anger and his defensiveness got the better of him. Apple is now a dominant player in the consumer technology market and it can't afford this kind of ham-fisted performance. Jobs should remove himself from the lineup and let someone else take over. Or he should get over himself and cheer up. But Friday's press conference was not good corporate PR.

Nick Morgan is President of Public Words Inc, a communications consulting firm, and author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma."

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/07/steve_jobss_disastrous_iphone.html