Apple Sued For Infringing Patents By Retailing Smart Water Bottles
Image via Apple
Apple is being sued by an Ohio-based company for selling smart water bottles that sync up with smartwatches like the Apple Watch, according to a report by AppleInsider.
Although the company isn’t manufacturing smart water bottles, its mere retail of Hidrate Spark bottles, which can be connected to the Apple Watch to monitor water consumption and track health, purportedly violates two patents for similar concepts by Xennial IP LLC, a non-practicing firm. The products can be located in the tech giant’s ‘Only At Apple’ section.
The first patent that Apple allegedly infringed on restricts the “making, using, at least through internal testing or otherwise, offering to sell, selling an/or importing” of a “communicative sports water bottle” with similar features, including a sensor and Bluetooth connectivity.
Meanwhile, the accessory’s design is also a supposed breach, as both bottles comprise a body with “a base and an upwardly extending sidewall therein defining a fluid chamber.”
Xennial is requesting for a jury trial, a permanent enjoinment on future related violations, as well as coverage for damages, relief, and legal fees.
[via AppleInsider, cover image via Apple]
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