Google Street View captures penguins in Antartica
Florida-based PanoMap Technologies has filed a lawsuit against Apple and Google, alleging the companies have infringed on its mapping technology via the Google Maps Street View feature on the iPad and iPhone.
PanoMap filed the complaint against Apple and Google on Friday in a federal court in Orlando, Florida.
In its complaint, PanoMap Technologies is claiming that the use of the Google Maps Street View feature on the iPad and iPhone violates US Patent No 6,563,529. This patent describes an “interactive system for displaying detailed view and direction in panoramic images.”
PanoMap is claiming that both Google and Apple should pay triple damages, as it says both tech giants knew about the patent and ignored it.
In its court filing, PanoMap suggested that Google had “known of the existence of the 6,563,529 patent at least as early as December 8, 2008”.
A report on Paidcontent.org today suggested the patent was issued to computer scientist Jerry Jongerius in 2003 but was then transferred to a shell company called Empire IP in 2011. It was subsequently transferred again to PanoMap Technologies in early February, according to the site.
Paidcontent.org added that a search for PanoMap leads to the name being associated with the Atlanta company, CSA, which builds lasers to help architects.
