January 24th, 2000

[12:00 PM] Stunning News: Imatec's Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Apple Dismissed by Staff Apple announced today that its year long battle with Hanoch Shalit and Imatec is now over, pending any appeals. Mr. Shalit has been suing Apple over alleged violations of its patents in relation to ColorSync. Imatec was seeking some US$1.1 billion in damages. According to Apple: Apple® today reported that the US District Court for the Southern District of New York has dismissed the Imatec, Ltd. and Hanoch Shalit patent litigation suit against Apple. The suit, filed on February 13, 1998, alleged that Apple's ColorSync software infringed on Imatec's and Shalit's patents. The dismissal came after the Judge determined that Imatec and Shalit do not own the patents on which the suit was based and, furthermore, that ColorSync does not infringe on these patents in any case. "We are pleased that the Judge threw out this frivolous lawsuit," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Our customers can now lay to rest any concerns raised by Imatec's lawsuit." The Mac Observer Spin: Many Observers will realize we have never offered this story one dpi of news coverage. Imatec is not a producer of products, but is instead a gatherer of patents. The issues surrounding ColorSync go back many years and to many different companies. Mr. Shalit's patents, the same patents that the court apparently found to be irrelevant, are more recent than the originating technology. We'll let you draw your own conclusions on that. Though appeals are always a possibility, we have all hopefully seen the last of this particular lawsuit. Apple