Apple Haptic Patent Application Has ‘Quite a Ways to Go,’ Immersion Says
Immersion CEO Victor Viegas indicated on an earnings call that he was unfazed by the patent application covering haptics technology that Apple filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The application “still has quite a ways to go in terms of surviving the PTO examination” process, “especially in light of all of our prior art” on such technology, which Immersion received patents for, he said. “Even if that application were to be granted in some form,” it would not eliminate the need for Immersion’s technology, he said.
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Apple filed its application in November 2010, but it wasn’t made public until being published on the PTO’s website on Thursday. The application covered “methods and systems for providing haptic control,” and called for an “embedded haptic system” within hardware devices that “may provide tactile interactions to a user.” Such technology could conceivably be implemented in future iPhones or iPads.
Apple already included haptics technology in its products, Viegas said, but he declined to say if Immersion planned to sue Apple for patent infringement as it has done with several other hardware makers. Immersion had “periodic discussions with Apple and those include formal discussions, casual meetings” and “we see them at trade shows,” he said. Immersion worked “hard to present to them new and innovative solutions” covering haptics technology, he said. It was “pretty clear that they've had some success” in using haptics in their development platform, in iOS 5 and the game community, and the developers, in particular, were “creating games with haptic effects,” he said.
Apple’s patent application was “focused mostly on hardware,” Viegas said. But most of Immersion’s “most recent and our most valuable patents -- and the ones that are currently” included in a U.S. International Trade Commission complaint -- “are really focused not on hardware, but on the use of haptics in a touch-screen interface,” he said.
Immersion filed a complaint in February with the ITC claiming that certain Motorola Mobility Android-based smartphones infringed on six Immersion patents covering various uses of haptic effects in connection with touch screens. Immersion also filed a patent infringement suit against Motorola Mobility in U.S. District Court, Wilmington, Del. Viegas said in a March earnings call that Immersion “may add other defendants” to the complaints (CED March 5 p4). It added HTC to the complaints the next day (CED March 15 p6).
It was, however, “unlikely” that Immersion will add more defendants to the complaints against HTC and Motorola, Viegas said. “By adding anyone at this stage, it would probably delay the current proceedings,” he said. “We're already in the discovery phase,” and “believe the case is progressing nicely -- we're very pleased with the progress” being made, he said. Viegas predicted there will be a preliminary determination by the ITC in June 2013 and final completion of the investigation in October 2013. The patent infringement actions that Immersion filed against Motorola and HTC in the district court were stayed pending resolution of the ITC action, he said. But he said, “we always have the opportunity to add additional defendants in other complaints in the ITC or in other venues."
Immersion and Microsoft settled a legal dispute in 2008. Viegas said his company continued to think that Windows 8 “could be a very good platform for Immersion.” Immersion believes it “could help Microsoft substantially with our solutions and so we're hopeful” that Microsoft will incorporate Immersion’s technology into Windows 8 products, he said.
Device manufacturers using Immersion’s haptics in their devices include Samsung, LG and Nokia. Samsung incorporated Immersion’s TouchSense 3000 software into its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, which also uses Immersion’s Reverb technology, Viegas said. The Galaxy S II also incorporated Immersion haptics and sold more than 20 million devices in its first nine months on the market, he said. Immersion was seeing a “surge in interest” in the Reverb technology, which he said translates audio into haptic effects, creating a haptic experience in games, music and video “automatically and without design effort by developers.” OEM interest in Reverb “increased as they look for unique content to show off the capabilities of their hardware platforms and differentiate their products in the market,” he said.
Immersion was also “excited by the increasing adoption of Immersion technology by Japanese OEMs” and expects to see more designs emerge from its recent deals with the top Japanese mobile manufacturers, he said. For example, he said, Immersion already has an OEM deal to build its technology into a smartphone and tablet from NEC Casio.
Several new apps recently launched that used Immersion’s haptic software development kit as well, including an update to the Mobile Andrio game, Viegas said. That game’s been downloaded more than 10 million times, he said. “We expect to see more top-tier developers bringing multiple titles into the market in the coming months and believe that speaks to the engaging user experience haptics brings to mobile gaming,” he said.
Of the $9.7 million in revenue that Immersion reported for Q1 ended March 31 (CED May 4 p7), $9.1 million came from royalties and licenses, a 9 percent year-over-year increase, Viegas said. Mobility products accounted for 42 percent of revenue, while games contributed 37 percent, medical 13 percent, autos 5 percent, and chips and other products 3 percent, he said. Immersion shares closed 0.4 percent higher Friday at $5.54.