Apple Being Sued Over iPhone Web Surfing

The lawsuit, filed by Jeffer, Mangels & Marmaro (JMBM), alleges that Apple infringed on U.S. Patent No. 7,441,196, held by EMG Managing Member Elliot Gottfurcht regarding the way Web sites are navigated on a mobile device.

Gottfurcht is one of the named inventors for five patents for navigating the Internet on mobile devices and Internet Protocol television (IPTV).

Gottfurcht hopes to argue that Patent No. 7,441,196, which was issued on Oct. 21, 2008, "includes 76 claims which are supported by specifications filed in 1999 by Mr. Gottfurcht and others."

"The'196 patent claims cover the display of Internet content reformatted from HTML to XML on mobile devices—the industry standard currently displayed by the iPhone,"said JMBM partner Stanley Gibson in a statement. "Additional patent claims include the technology for manipulating a region of the screen for zooming and scrolling."

Gibson went on to explain the pending lawsuit further.

"Web sites are just beginning to develop their mobile sister sites for fast and easy navigation," said Gibson. "For example, to access NBC on a computer the URL is NBC.com. For the mobile site on the iPhone, the URL would be m.NBC.com. The '196 patent covers the simplified interface of reformatted mobile content to provide optimum viewing and navigation with single touches on a small screen."

EMG Technology and Gottfurcht are seeking unspecified damages against Apple for the iPhone infringement.